


Blood and Dust

by Frankie3110, Tornado5d



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Fantasy, Love, Romance, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2020-10-06 09:20:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 39,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20504606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frankie3110/pseuds/Frankie3110, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tornado5d/pseuds/Tornado5d
Summary: The Decimation is upon Nick and Judy on a normal day at work. Their whole world goes up in flames. Will they be able to prevent the city from crumbling because of it?





	1. ACT I: BEGINNING

Prologue 

After all these years. After all the suffering. Thanos has finally made it. He found all infinity stones. He finally snapped his fingers and 50% of humanity has been eradicated. Not just humanity, but the whole entire universe. Such a big universe that will have its heartbreaks and suffering in each stop that the Decimation passes through. So many lives lost to a single hand. 

Thanos there he lays, contemplating his victory. The amount of sacrifices he has made. Killing his daughter, the killing of his sons by the hands of the Avengers. But all of that doesn't matter anymore. The past is done and can never be changed. All that matters is the present. He doesn't need to paint his hands in blood anymore. All is quiet. All is silent. As everything should be. 

ACT I: Beginning 

An Unfortunate Universe 

A few hours before The Decimation, all was good in most universes. Of course there were universes at war, peace, starvation and any kind of situation imaginable. It all worked like a randomizer. Nobody picked the wars and nobody started them. But of wars there's no need to talk about, since the story of this universe held no such thing.

At 3 trillion light-years away from the Planet Earth there hid another galaxy. Very different from our own. A solar system that carried no more than 3 planets. Planets that were very far away from each other. From two of those planets there were no known records of life on them, not like any casual wondered would stop for a second to examine them. But the third one, the planet closest to the Sun, named FE-3416 by the few so-called “travelers” around the galaxy, did have a source of life. People left that planet alone. It didn't cause any trouble around the place and it didn't hold any dark power that would require a check-up. It was a calm galaxy. 

That planet, surrounded mostly by land and some water, resembled Planet Earth, but it had its differences. There were anthropomorphic animals living in it. In that place, wars are never fought anymore and every living prey and predator commute happily with each other. In this world there are two special animals that have learned to fight through everything that's befallen to them. A rabbit named Judy Hopps and a fox named Nick Wilde. The Decimation will take a stop in this: their unfortunate universe. 

Waking up

In the early mornings of Zootopia the sun rises to receive another day. At 6 in the morning the streets are already very busy. It's a monday so the mammals get ready to go to work. Of course, mondays are hated by everyone, but not for a rabbit, that would be considered peculiar by her fellow species. The bunny that became the first police officer of her kind and also joined by the first fox to join the force. 

Surprisingly enough, the alarm didn't wake her up and was instead awoken by Nick, her fox partner. They began living together some years ago when they began going out. Such a close friendship between partners had to change and in just a moment's notice they became an item. Being a couple was the world to them. Nothing else mattered. They were madly in love. It could be said that Nick was the most in love but in reality they both had a special feeling for each other that no one would take away. 

The fact of them being different species never stopped them from going forward. After their relationship got public to the whole world through an Internet leak, they were met with all kinds of hardships. It was all a political drama against them. People debating whether or not a relationship like that could be good for society. They didn't care and even made their relationship a message to all animals who were feeling afraid to be who they were. They gained fame throughout all of Zootopia and they soon became a trending topic in the whole world. They were changing the rules of the game and they were succeeding. They gained a following and millions of people began encouraging them to be themselves. It all seemed like it would work out perfectly. 

“How is it possible that such a dedicated rabbit could still be in bed at this hour? Don't you live for your work, Officer Hopps?” Nicholas Wilde said in a morning tone. A tone Judy didn't see very much on him.

“Well Nick I don't always wake up like I always do. I sometimes get a little bit tired, you know? And yesterday was kinda too much for me,” she said in a smug face

“You're lying, Carrots. We've been living together for a year already and it ‘being too much for you’ only happened once and it was because we both were drunk and hungover,” said Nick, not believing Judy's words.

“Well maybe I don't wanna wake up today,” Judy said, surprising Nick since he never saw her like that. 

“Well we got no choice, Judy. I'm already getting dressed. Breakfast is on the table. Made you your favorite,” 

“Ugh fine,” she said as Nick kept being surprised by her behavior. 

As Nick said this Judy got out of bed and prepared for a new day at work. She got into the bathroom and began washing up. She usually took a shower but this time she didn't really have time for it. As she brushed her teeth with her left paw she noticed the golden ring in one of her fingers. She couldn't help but smile. She still remembered that day as it was yesterday. The way Nick proposed to her was the most romantic day of her life. They had gotten to many places and the final stop was a rooftop where you could see the whole of Zootopia. She was so amazed by the sights that she didn't even notice her mate kneeling with a ring in his hand. 

That was the single most happiest day of her life, not even topped by the day she became a cop. She really felt it. There was no other way she would've preferred to live. It was perfect just like this. She was truly happy and nothing could stop it. Nick saw her day-dreaming and decided to hug her unexpectedly. She accepted it, of course. She turned around and couldn't resist going for a kiss. She was smaller than him, but she found her ways. Nick wouldn't deny such an amazing gift in the morning. He would definitely abandon all of his Christmas gifts or any physical possessions if it meant he could feel those lips for the rest of his life. 

Their bonding went on for seemingly ages as both of them didn't have the need to stop. After a minute, they finished their kiss and looked at each other in a way only them could. They were somewhere else. In another universe. Alone with themselves. 

“Thanks for this morning gift, Mr. Wilde,” 

“Oh I owe it all to you, Miss Hopps. Also you could've warned me you still had toothpaste in your mouth. Now I have this horrible taste from the mint,” Nick said disgusted

“You kissed the cleanest mouth in the world, Nick. Shut up,” she pushed him as they still laughed with each other. The mornings were always great with Judy and Nick. 

“Also about that Miss Hopps thing, in a month you will call me Miss Wilde so get ready for that,” she said as Nick began growing a smile. 

“What the heck did I do to deserve you?” Nick said. 

“Absolutely nothing. I was too unattractive to find a better mate so I just stuck with you,” Judy said in a smug manner. 

“Nonsense, you could've gotten the best rabbit in the whole of Bunnyburrow,” and he wasn't exaggerating. Judy really had lots of pretentious followers in High School and College that wanted to be with her but she refused to be into any kind of relationship. She could've never expected she would get soft because of a fox. The greatest fox she had ever met in her whole life. 

“But I didn't want a rabbit. I wanted you. I knew that since we talked in the Rainforest District,” said Judy in the most heartfelt tone. Nick was flattered. Judy hated to break their moment, but they had to get to work. 

“Stop eyeing me like that, we'll be late,” Judy said as she got ready to dress up. 

“Ok, I'll be waiting in the car, partner,” said Nick as Judy nodded to his statement. 

The After

It had been 5 minutes and Judy was still not out. He was unsure on what was taking her so long. She was always so fast when preparing to go to work. The car didn't have much entertaining activities other than the radio so he just got bored waiting for his bunny. The bunny he would call a wife in just a month. He was excited. Nothing was more important than her. 

Another minute passed until Judy finally got out and went in the direction of the car. She was silent, as if she was still thinking of something. After getting inside the car, she started talking. 

“Sorry for my slowness today, Nick. I've just been thinking of something important,” said Judy in an apologetic tone. 

“You don't have to apologize, Carrots. It's okay if there's something eating you up. Is it something about the wedding?” Nick said worriedly. 

“What? No, of course not. The wedding is the least of my worries. I was just thinking about the after,” 

“The after?” Nick asked. 

“After we get married, I… I would wanna have children of my own,” said Judy, “B-but I don't think it's possible,” she dropped her ears in disappointment and sadness. 

“Oh,” Nick gave a big pause. This time work wasn't important. His bunny had a frown and as her fiancé he takes a serious duty to erase that from her face. “Believe it or not, I've been thinking about that too,” Nick said, which surprised Judy. 

“You have?” 

“Of course, Honeybun. Who wouldn't want to have a beautiful child with you? I admit I don't know if we can possibly make a child of our own, but we'll be besides each other if it happens or not. No matter what, we'll fight alongside and we'll never get separated. That's all we've been doing since we became partners in the force. We must always be strong, and be prepared for anything,” Judy shed some tears after listening to him and got out of her seat to hug him. 

“I love you, you sweet fox,” Judy said between sobs as he hugged him. 

“Never forget my words when you think that. I'll never leave your back,” they hugged and hugged, and work was forgotten 

That was the first day in a long time that they've ever been late to work. 

Pissing off the Chief

The duo found out they were gonna be late and tried getting to the ZPD as fast as they could. Bullpen was already starting and they were running to be able to get to their seats before roll call. They were close, but the chief was already calling out their names. 

“Hopps and Wilde. May I know the motive of your late entry to this establishment?” said Bogo intimidatingly. 

“Oh cut them some slack, Chief,” a cheetah police officer said from the back of the room. “These two animals here haven't been late in a long time. Can't you just let this slide?” 

To this Bogo responded: “Officer Catano, when I ask for your opinion, you will rightfully say it. So shut it unless you want parking duty”

Catano huffed at this statement and just stayed quiet.

“Now, Hopps, could you explain why you two were late?” 

As Judy was about to speak Nick interrupted. “I believe I'm the most suitable to explain our sudden lateness” he adjusted his throat and his clothes and said: “Traffic” then smirked smugly

Some of the officers in the room laughed. Bogo wasn't all too pleased. 

“That's no excuse, Wilde” 

“Do you really want me to tell you the reason we were late? I mean it's pretty stupid” 

“Yes. Tell me” Bogo said, eager to know.

“Well it is not my fault that the alarm didn't ring properly today, and that we took a long time to eat breakfast because the eggs were hard to cook. Well fine I'm not gonna do excuses now. Yes, we're late, but when's the last time we got late, huh? It's been probably ages. Years. After all we've done for this amazing city, being late only one day out of the whole three years we've been in the ZPD. We're…” he got interrupted by Bogo. 

“Okay okay, just shut up, Wilde. Yes it is true. Your records show you guys are excellent at coming early. I suppose I could let this slide” 

“Yes!” Nick screamed 

“But, one more day late and you got parking duty for two months” Judy gulped at the sound of that. She imagined herself, being miserable in those two months, having to do that stupid assignment. 

“It won't happen again, Chief, we promise” Judy said.

“I hope so” 

After that the Chief gave everyone their assignments and they got dismissed. Nick and Judy went outside to get to their car. 

“Nice work there, Nick. You saved us our job” 

“I wouldn't call it ‘saving our jobs’ but yeah that's what I did” said Nick in the loveable way only he knew how.

“Well, time to make the world a better place, partner. You ready?” said Judy, eagerly to start the new day. 

“Surely, partner. Let's get the bad guys! Toot toot”

She smirked as they began this day of work. None of them knew it would be their last day for a long while. 

The Call

It was late afternoon. The couple already felt like it had been a productive day. They took out some criminals, they helped some people in need and talked to some kids. It was really going well. Until that call on the radio. 

“To all officers in the area of Downtown Zootopia, please report!” a voice spoke through the radio. Judy and Nick looked at each other. They knew something bad was happening. The caller kept speaking. 

“A plane is slowly falling down! It might hit one of the skyscrapers soon. Nobody knows what's happening! It seems like they lost connection to the cabin and no one's even there! Please go to Downtown as fast as you can and evacuate civilians! This does not look good” the female speaking on the radio was very startled and Nick and Judy were pondering how she could manage to say all that and be so frightened. It was no time to ponder anything. They had lives to save.

“Dispatch, Officer Hopps and Wilde here. We're close to the location. We're going straight towards it” Judy announced through the radio. 

“Copy that, Officer Hopps. Your help will surely be needed. Hurry u-” the radio suddenly stopped and became static. Whatever was happening it was surely not great. 

The Plane

As Judy and Nick entered Downtown it was all chaos. People leaving their houses and cars. The plane was getting closer and closer to land and they needed to go fast if they wanted to save any lives. 

“Judy, let's check on the buildings and make sure everyone gets out!” Nick said as Judy followed him. 

As they checked the buildings many mammals were going way too fast, provoking panic around people. The duo tried calming them down in order for them to flee in an orderly fashion. The plane was dangerously close to them already. 

They successfully checked on the buildings prone to destruction by the airplane and started running towards a safe place. The plane was going down fast and it hit ground. Two buildings were hit and instantly destroyed by the massive bird of steel. The debris and shrapnel started being launched as projectiles, sending them to the direction of the fleeing animals. Some of them got hit by concrete, metal and other sharp objects flying through the air. 

Judy and Nick were running as fast as they could but a big wing dismantled from the machine was about to fall right on them. Luckily, Nick acted fast and evaded their possible death. The wing hit part of another building that was untouched. Nick and Judy sat down to catch their breath at least a little. 

“We're okay, Judy” said Nick. He was scared, and he could see she was going through worse. 

“There's no time to rest. There might be more people that need saving” as Judy said this, everything fell apart. Some of the mammals that were resting safely were now… disappearing?


	2. ACT II: DOOMSDAY

ACT II: Doomsday 

Dust

Judy and Nick couldn't believe what they were seeing. Tons of mammals were being made into nothing but particles, leaving other familiars behind. Nothing escaped it. There were children, adults, elders. The smell of rotten flesh wasn't helping. There were screams from mammals stuck under debris and burning to the crisp. Some of them wandering around with some limbs missing. Judy saw a fox walking with half of his face gone, only seeing the bones and the flesh that was still hanging from him, until he walked no more and stumbled on the ground. 

There was no possible explanation to this phenomenon. No one could know what was going on. Thanos was unknown to that universe. The Infinity Stones were unknown. No other sort of life form was known to them. They couldn't do anything. They just had to sit and watch. They weren't the main show anymore. They were the casualties. 

“Nick, what's happening? T-this is not possible. What is this?” Judy said horrified. He had no answer to any of the questions his rabbit was asking. Was he gonna die too like that eventually? How fast was this going? Was this gonna take the whole entire planet? There was no time. No time at all. He couldn't know when or if he would die. It was all a gamble. A randomizer. Nobody chose who died. 

“We gotta get to the ZPD, fast!” Nick didn't know why they had to go to the ZPD. They were gonna die anyways. Judy followed him. She knew he didn't have any kind of plan, but what else was there to do? She wasn't gonna sit and wait for her possible demise. If she was gonna die, it would be by Nick's side. 

The car wasn't very far from when they stationed it and rapidly got inside it. The first thing there was to do was to speak on the radio. To try and get contact with anyone there. To get at least a little bit of information on what was happening. Nick was speeding with the car and trying to get to the ZPD as far as he could. 

“Precinct 1, Precinct 1, does anybody copy? It's Officers Wilde and Hopps! There are people disappearing mysteriously and we don't know who or what's causing it. Is anybody there?” Nick kept trying to contact with someone there but no one responded. It was a bad sign. Judy felt it too. This was the end. There was no escaping from it. 

Departure 

As they got closer to the police center, Judy wouldn't stop looking at the destruction this catastrophe was causing to this city. What was happening in Bunnyburrow? Were they gonna be okay? She had no clue. Her stomach started hurting. 

She didn't notice, but Nick was trembling. Trembling in pure terror. He had never felt anything like this, not even in the day of his supposed Initiation to be a Junior Scout. He couldn't know where all his friends were. He didn't have time. 

They finally arrived to the ZPD and it was desolated. It looked like there was no soul, inside or outside. Judy had a very bad feeling about this. Her fur felt earthy and it looked crumbled. That's when she noticed. 

She was disappearing too. Shocked, Hopps had nothing else to do but to call Nick, and say her goodbyes. 

“Nick” she said, already sobbing. 

“What is it, Jud- *gasp* No. No, no, no, no!” Nick said, not believing the situation. 

She was debilitating and she was about to fall. Nick caught her but couldn't keep her up as she stumbled. Nick crouched and put his left hand on the back of her head as she was slowly giving in to nothingness. 

“I-I'm sorry we couldn't make a family. I'm sorry I took so long to accept my feelings toward you and to be able to love you” said Judy, now crying and not being able to retain her emotions. Nick looked at her as if she was being foolish. 

“Stop saying that, dummy. You don't have to apologize for anything. Nobody needs to. What we have is great. I only need you in my life to be happy, Judy. Nothing else. Don't go now, please!” said Nick, which also couldn't retain his emotions. 

“I love you, Nick” they were both crying a lot now. Nick Wilde was crying. His life motto was to not let anybody see that they got to him, and after 20 years, he was crying again. Judy Hopps, his savior, was dying in his arms. He kissed her. Kissed her like he never did before. Judy felt it too. It was truly their best kiss. And all of a sudden not too distant memories came rushing into her dying mind. The Night Howlers, Nick's first day at the ZPD, their first kiss. It was all going away with her. She at least has hope that Nick cherishes their time together as she did with him. She knows he will. 

As her body turned completely to dust, she only managed to say one last thing. “Live for me, please.”

A sound of a soul leaving the body and a ringing of an eerie bell was heard as her face turned completely non-existent and nothing about her figure could be seen anymore. He looked at his hands. It was there. There was still part of… her. He kept crying. He would never see her again. She was gone. Gone forever. He wouldn't hear her voice again, nor touch her soft fur, nor lay with her in bed another time. Who was still alive? Was he the last one?

He thought about Judy's last words. To live for her. That was something he was definitely gonna do. He would find an answer to this. He would stop it, and he will try bringing her back. He was gonna live for her, and die for her if it was to be necessary. 

He felt anger all of a sudden. He didn't know anything about this. He didn't know what was causing this. He didn't know what took away her Judy. He didn't know anything. The only thing he could do was get into the ZPD and try to find survivors. 

A Familiar Face 

Entering the ZPD was gonna be harder than he thought. Who else was dead? What more heartbreak could he encounter on this fateful day? 8 hours ago he was the happiest fox alive and now… now what? Her last words still buzzed in his mind. Live for her. He had to. Moving forward was the only option. 

He finally took one last step that would lead to the entrance. He prepared for the worst. As he entered, it looked quite desolate. Not a mammal in sight. Did everyone in the ZPD vanish? He couldn't believe everyone would be dead. It was already pretty horrible with Judy, but everyone in Precinct 1? Everyone with which they had shared drinks and heartfelt conversations? 

Looking everywhere, Nick could only find dirt, some of which would maybe belong to one of his friends. He got inside the bullpen, in which everyone received their assignments. Empty. He caught himself eyeing his and Judy's chair. Empty. Of course it was. Only he and Judy sat there and now it's incomplete. He decided to get out of that room. It only brought him sad memories. Empty. 

As he walks out, he hesitates. Being in this place with Judy was his most incredible blessing. Being part of her daily activities, her mistakes, her wins. He took part in all of them. Never left her side. In the end, she never left his side either, and he's grateful for that. 

Nick heard a loud sound in the entrance of the precinct. He got startled. It was unexpected. It seemed rushed. He drew his gun out of the holster and got ready to go out. 

He opened the door slowly and there he saw it. It was an officer. It was Catano. Nick felt happy for seeing a familiar face. If she was alive, then lots of people would have survived too. He put his gun back. She wasn't a risk. 

“Kii!” Nick called to her as she kept walking. She heard his voice, looked his way, and smiled warmly. 

“Oh my god! Nick, it's you” the female cheetah ran to him and gave him a big hug. “I thought everyone here would be dead! You don't know how happy I am to see you” 

She noticed how long she was hugging him and blushed. “I-I'm sorry. It's just… it's been horrible, Nick. So many dead people” she started sobbing. Officer Catano was a new officer from two years ago. She and Judy grew to be great friends. She wasn't gonna like it when he told her what happened to her. 

“It's okay, Kii. I kinda really needed that hug. Thank you. I imagine what you went through” Nick said sympathetically. 

“Wait, where's Judy?” Nick didn't have the heart to tell her and just lowered his head and closed his eyes. That's all she needed to know what happened to her. 

“No. Not Judy too” she couldn't believe it. She went down on her knees. 

“I-it happened right in front of the ZPD” Nick said

“I'm sorry, Nick. I'm so, so sorry” she got up and went to hug him again. He accepted. As she hugged him, he imagined Judy, hugging him in that bridge where they saw each other again after months. The day they solved their first case together. The day he took the offer of being his partner. The best day of his life. 

They stopped hugging. He really needed a hug, and Kii made him feel much better. 

“Wait, weren't you guys at the plane accident when everything started?” Kii asked. 

“Yeah. I don't know why I thought of going here, but it was the only place that came to mind” answered Nick

“Going from there to here takes a good 5 minutes to get here, and you said Judy started vanishing before entering the ZPD?” Kii asked yet another question 

“Yes. But what does that have to do with anything?” he started getting annoyed. He didn't want to keep remembering how she left. At least not today. 

“Most of the officers I was with and the ones I saw disappeared in the spot. Right after the plane crashed. It's kinda weird” Catano pondered. 

“There's really no way to explain anything. The plane, the people vanishing. It all makes no sense. What in the hell caused all of this? That's what we should be wondering!” Nick yelled 

“I know this is very shocking for all of us. Believe me” Kii said. “But we must remain calm. We might not know what caused it but it is not important right now. Now we have to concentrate on getting the city back” to this statement Nick showed curiosity. 

“Getting the city back? From who?” he asked

“There's been some revolts. Mammals fighting each other, vandalizing everything. It's all a chaos. That's why I came back here, to see if there were some people inside that were trying to mess with the precinct. When people think they're in danger they do crazy stuff, and also when they've lost what to fight for” Catano stated. Nick could see she was scared. She had a family too. He didn't want to know what happened to it. 

“We must get the city calm again, and I think you'd be great for that” said the Cheetah in a joking mood. 

“Why? What exactly do you want me to do?”

“You're great for speeches, Nick. The people will listen to you. You and Judy have been their idols for some time, remember? You guys have kinda been my idols too. You made me want to pursue a career as a police officer” she said joyfully. It was true. They were one of her motives for becoming a cop. She remembers seeing them on TV when the Night Howlers crisis was happening. 

“You got me wrong, Spots. Judy was the one good at speeches. I can't speak to save the world, not even save myself” 

“Spots? Really? Anyways yes you can, Nick. You can't speak normally if you're too nervous. Also try not to think about giving the speech to everyone in there. Think about one person. Speak with the heart, it can be amazing how many things come from it” Nick was surprised by her words. She was right. But he had just one simple query. 

“Alright, alright I'll do it. But how do you expect me to speak for the entirety of Zootopia? I have a beautiful voice, I know, but I don't think it will reach that many people without a mic or something else” 

“Yes I know that. That's why we're going to use the billboard of the skyscraper in Downtown Zootopia. It can reach lots of people” she explained. 

“But how do we do that?” Nick kept questioning her. 

“I have a friend up there. He might help us out” she said. 

Nick trusted her. She knew what she was doing most of the time and she was becoming a very skilled officer. Judy was even getting intimidated by her. They were friends so that didn't matter to her, nor to Nick. 

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!” Nick exclaimed. “Let's go in my car, we'll get there faster” 

Catano agreed and they hastily got out of the ZPD establishment. Nick went out first, and he could still see the spot where she had gone on to another place. Or maybe nowhere, who knew?

The sky was brown-red. Nick started thinking it got the mood of the situation right. It wasn't grey for sad, or blue for happy. It was a color of destruction. Of blood and dust. Of grief and suffering. Many lives lost to never return. 

It was no time to mourn. He had to send a message. His city was crumbling and he needed to do something about it. Even if all his loved ones were gone, he needed to live. For her. 

Blood

They were going as fast as they could. The building wasn't that far from the ZPD but this wasn't a normal day. It was getting late and Nick could hear the screams, glass breaking, people crying. Then he saw it. It was a big group. They were predators. All of them. They were in front of him and they were going on their direction. He wasn't gonna be able to fight all of them. They were too numerous and too big. He needed to flee. 

“What do we do, Nick?” his companion asked. 

“We're taking a detour” he answered. 

He rapidly pushed the accelerator and turned right onto the closest alley. It was narrow, so the car suffered some damages, but at least they were safe from them. 

As they kept advancing they could see more mammals wreaking havoc on the streets. They had knives and he could easily see blood on them. It was truly… 

A bullet hit the car which made Nick get out of his thinking state. Kii screamed in pain. The bullet hit her right on the shoulder. 

“Oh my god, Kii!” Nick yelled in anguish. 

“Ugghh.. I'm okay *small breathing* I'm okay. Let's just go to the skyscraper, there's a lot of people there that can help me” she said as she tried to manage the pain. This was the first time she had been shot. It came as a surprise to her how much it hurt, but she was stronger than that. A simple bullet wouldn't slow her down. 

“J-just wait a second. Let me check for an exit wound” he stopped the car on a nearby alleyway that seemed empty of bad company. They didn't need that right now. Nick started checking on her shoulder. He looked in the back and he could see the bullet penetrated the car seat, which meant the bullet wasn't inside. He sighed in relief. 

“You'll be fine, K. You just need a bandage” explained Nick, very relieved that her friend was gonna be alright. 

“I have one. I got it just in case. Bless my instinct, hah” she tried to put some light of the situation. There was no reason to panic. Nick was calm, and so was she. 

After putting the bandage on, she was ready to go. “It's done, Nick. This will stop the blood loss for now” 

“Good, I don't want to lose another partner” Nick seriously stated. 

“Now let's go save the city, or at least try to do so” said Kii. 

Nick started the car again and went out of the alleyway. He went even faster this time. There was no stopping. 

Car Ride

The car ride was getting longer than both officers expected. The time didn't seem to pass correctly and they looked glued in one place with no way of moving. The stress of the situation was reaching an all-time high that they couldn't shrug off. Nick realized she didn't tell him who was still alive and who wasn't. He needed to know. 

“Hey, Cat. You never told me which of the officers died. Is Chief Bogo alive?” he asked, surprising her because he made the awkward silence inside the car disappear very suddenly. She then focused on the question. 

“I really don't know if Chief Bogo or Clawhauser are still alive, but I do know that Wolford and Francine are gone” she sadly expressed. “But that's not all, Fangmeyer didn't disappear. He died of a car collision. It seemed that the people inside of it had vanished too” she started sobbing. “I couldn't help any of them” she felt useless. Nick touched her healthy shoulder while using her other paw to drive and said. 

“Hey, don't beat yourself up for this. All of this happened unexpectedly. You wouldn't have known any of this would happen. We can't focus on that anymore. We need to move forward”. Nick's words resonated in her head. She denied her feelings of uncertainty and smiled at Nick. 

“You're great at making people feel better. Do you know that?” she claimed joyfully. 

“Oh you have no idea, hah” they laughed and the mood finally shifted and it became less stressful. Nick enjoyed her company. At least he still has good friends to count on.

TO BE CONTINUED


	3. ACT III: HEIGHTS

ACT III: Heights

The Tower

The car arrived to the biggest building in Zootopia. Downtown Center. It was the most recognizable place of Zootopia since it could be seen from miles. It was massive. A business building that also has many news channels within it. The most known being ZNN, which was the place they were going to. After finally getting to the building with only a “minor” inconvenience they both gave a sigh of relief. It wasn't over yet, but the end was near. 

“Are you sure the friend that's supposed to help us is still alive” Nick said curiously. 

“Yes, I talked to him over the phone. He's my boyfriend. He works as a cameraman for ZNN and knows a lot about technology. He can help us” she explained. 

Nick never knew about her boyfriend. It came as a surprise to him. She never said anything about him. 

“A boyfriend? Since when did you get a boyfriend?” Nick expressed, to which she replied. 

“From 2 weeks ago. I wanted to develop my relationship with him so I could tell you guys. I'm the kind of girl that gets skeptical when entering a relationship. Some males can be total jerks and I wanted to be sure if he was good” 

“And is he good?” Nick said, desiring to know more. 

“Yeah he is. He's sweet and kind. I was gonna arrange a double date so you and Judy could meet him. I was planning it for today…” her eyes fell another time. She felt horrible for Nick. She couldn't imagine what was going through his mind. Judy's departure will surely change him. She just doesn't know how exactly. 

“Hey, it's alright. I'm happy your boyfriend is still alive. Come on, do all females I meet have to be so darn emotional?” Nick joked. She just smiled. His way of coping with distress was something else. Nick was a strong mammal. She knew about his past, and the fact that he could still hold a smile after everything he has been through is admirable. 

“You'll be the end of me, Wilde” she remarked with a grin. “Now let's go. The elevator might not be working and we'll have to go through many floors to reach ZNN” her grin disappeared and she turned serious. 

“Wait, what floor is ZNN at?” Nick asked as he took another look at the massive building. 

“Floor 87. It's a long way up” she said, leaving Nick speechless. She began running towards the entrance and Nick had no time to think about the amount of stairs he'll have to climb. He prayed for the elevator to work. 

Only way to go is Up

The elevator wasn't working. He should've known. His luck wasn't going very well today. It seemed like this day was all torture for Nick. 

The inside was a mess. Papers on the floor, tables flipped, broken windows. The mammals were desperate to get out. The plane got dangerously close to impacting the building so it made sense. He couldn't imagine the fear the animals in the higher floors were feeling. 

It was time to go up the stairs. They needed to go to floor 87 as fast as they could. They were skipping 2 to 3 steps at a time in order to reach their objective faster. At floor 17 they were already getting exhausted. They kept on going. Kii's shoulder was hurting and Nick could sense that. The blood was running off her bandage and it got to her bright yellow fur and traveled through her armpit. Nick looked at her and became worried. 

“Hey, Kii. You okay? Kii?” She took a while to answer, which made Nick call her name a third time. She answered:  
“I'm fine, Nick. We really need to get to floor 87 and we can't do it if you don't trust me. I won't bleed out. The wound is too small for that to happen. It just hurts like hell” she claimed, annoyed at Nick's worry. She really shouldn't be that harsh on him. She knows what's going through his head. He doesn't wanna see anyone else die. 

“Okay, sorry. I just care for you. You meant a lot to Judy and I don't want you hurt. At least not more than you are right now” Nick said, although he wasn't mad or anything. He understood her feelings. More than anyone could. He just cared for a friend and he definitely wasn't ready to see two people he cares deeply about die. Who knows if Finnick is even still alive? 

“Sorry I snapped at you, Nick. It won't happen again. Let's just end this shit already. I wanna take a bath” she smirked, which made Nick smirk. They continued on their journey to the top. 

86

They were completely fatigued but needed to reach the floor fast. It was the hardest workout Nick had done in a while and it was clearly taking a toll on him. He didn't want to stop. Kii had a hurt shoulder but she didn't complain about the pain, nor would he. 

They were already on floor 85 and it was like entering an amusement park. They were so happy and relieved. Just one more floor and they would finally reach their objective. Kii stopped, which puzzled Nick. She hadn't stopped one time during the whole way up. What was she doing? 

“Wait, I hear noises on the other floor” She whispered

“Is that really a bad thing? I'm stoked for seeing more people” he said enthusiastically, careful not to increase the volume of his voice. 

“No, Nick. It's bad. Marvin, my boyfriend, told me everyone had left except for them. They were brave and stayed there to try and calm things down. So far they haven't quite managed that. Most of the team left in there knows little to nothing about cameras, radios, or speaking in front of cameras. Marvin knows technology and such but he has stage fright. That's why I need you there” Kii explained quietly. 

“Makes sense. But wouldn't one of them at least come down here for something?” he asked. 

“I don't know. I guess I better call him to make sure” she proceeded to make the call. Her phone kept beeping for some seconds until he took the call. 

“Marvin? Hi honey. Did someone by any chance happen to be on floor 86?” Nick couldn't quite hear what he was saying but he seemed distressed. Kii was also showing a surprised face as if some new info had been given to her. 

“And you didn't call me to tell me? Do you realize how dangerous that is? How could you forget?” she was only whispering but Nick could sense her anger. Marvin was in trouble. He had seen her angry before, and it wasn't pretty. Despite her anger she managed to end the call in a wholesome way while putting up a smile. He was now eager to know what was going on. 

“There are vandals up there. Marvin doesn't know how many are there but they seemed dangerous. He thinks some of them are armed” she said, quietly again now that she knows the full extent of the situation. Nick sighed. 

“Just when I thought our luck was gonna go better” he pouted. “Is there any way we can somehow surround them?” he asked. 

“Unfortunately not. We need to get through the hallway that leads to floor 87. No secondary entries and no elevator. We're cops, Nick. We'll manage if we work together. You with me?” she said while closing her paw for a fist bump. There was no turning back so he complied. 

They had to be smart on this. Kii was hurt and Nick was tired. They both had their guns loaded and out of their holster. Safes off. If they saw them they had to act fast. Nick could smell them but couldn't quite know their species. The tiredness of the day had weakened him and couldn't smell properly. He will have to rely on his sight. 

Kii wasn't great for smelling, but she did have great vision and could run very fast like most cheetahs. She saw Clawhauser and she doubts he could be as fast as her. Not to be mean or anything, but he wasn't a good example for her species. Marvin himself wasn't actually a cheetah, he was a raccoon. She didn't know why she hadn't told Nick, since he himself was in a relationship with a bunny…. and then she caught on to herself. She didn't tell him because she felt shameful. She feels like telling her about her boyfriend that is a raccoon will only make him feel worse. She doesn't think that will actually happen but it was just her instinct. She couldn't speak for herself at that time. 

She knows Nick would be happy, but it's best for him to see it rather than her spilling it on his face. She feels that's the right thing. 

They could see the offices already. It was all much more vandalized than in the first floor, which was surprising. They didn't see any evildoers yet. If they kept going they would reach the open hallway that had a great view of Zootopia through the window. A fall from that height could kill you instantaneously.

“These fucking doors won't give in!” a voice said at the end of the hallway to the right. Nick made sure there wasn't anybody to the left and gave Kii a sign to move. There was a nearby table they could use for hiding. 

“Those fucking cowards. This door won't hold for the rest of your lives!” another voice spoke. It seemed younger. Nick and Judy moved quickly to the table so they don't get spotted and to take a closer look at the animals. 

It was a tiger, a hyena and a wolf. They seemed pissed. It didn't look like a random vandalism. They were trying to hurt the mammals that were being protected by that door. It was their only way in, and the doors were blocked from the other side. Kii wouldn't let those hoodlums do anything to Marvin. She feared the only way this would go is by fighting. They both had their guns, so it should be fairly easy, until she realized one of them had an M16. It was the tiger. In a group of mammals, there's always a brute. She didn't see any guns on the others but that didn't take away the possibility that they might. 

“Nick, we're gonna have to fight” she said, resigned. “We can't avoid them. If we don't do something fast they'll destroy that door. It looks like they're saving the big gun as the last resource” she pulled out her gun and her safe was off. 

“Woah woah woah wait a second” he whispered as much as his voice could take him. “We don't know if those 2 other guys have guns too. We have to design a tactic plan. We can't just rush it” 

He was right. They had to kill them, or somehow paralyze them with no way of them getting up again. In the hallway office there were 4 tables. They were on the right table in the last row. They could get a better shot from the left. But what would they be shooting at? She saw the fire extinguisher on the floor and her brain went jackpot. 

“We're gonna dispose of the tiger's gun” she said. 

“And how are we gonna do that?” Nick questioned. 

“Fire extinguisher” she pointed at the red cylinder that was dropped on the floor. “I'm gonna shoot at it and we'll run quick to take his gun. After that, if they try to hurt us, we'll be ready to take them out” she explained her plan. 

“Hmm, it sounds good, but we'll have to do it fast. I think it's better to get closer” she nodded at his statement. As far as they know, the fire extinguisher must've already been used, which would explain why it's on the floor, but if by any chance there was some carbon dioxide left there, it would distract them enough for them to do everything they need to do. 

Risking a shot from that length would be foolish and that mistake could cost them their lives. They had to get closer. Nick was eyeing the other table and was thinking of a smooth way to transition between them without making a sound. The vandals were all looking at the door but one of them did a quick peek every now and then. It seemed random. Nick tried pinpointing the exact time the wolf looked back, and when he got it all figured out, he acted. 

He told Kii to follow him as fast as she could. He ran for the door in a limited speed and quickly ducked under it. He looked back and Kii was already in there with him. She was faster than him in the best of circumstances, but her shoulder pain prevented her from using her full potential. 

The Extinguisher was now very close. If they missed the shot from there, they would call themselves a disgrace to the police force. Kii prepared to shoot at it when Nick stopped her. 

“Hey, are you sure you can do this? Your shoulder hurts and the recoil from the gun might damage the wound more. Why don't you let me do it?” he said, worried. She understood and she gave Nick the reason this time.  
“Fine, but you better make the shot” she whispered. Nick smiled.  
“I always aim the right direction” he said cockily. 

He got ready to take the shot. The baddies were still too focused on the door. He aimed, careful not to mess it up. He could die, and he wasn't gonna do that yet. He had to live. He will see her come back. Because she will. It can't just end like that. He won't allow it. She has made the impossible. A simple apocalypse like this won't hold her. Wherever she is, she must be fighting to come back. 

Kii was wondering why he didn't take the shot yet. He saw his face. He was crying. Judy must be on his mind she thought. Nick closed his eyes for a some seconds, opened them again and took the shot. His heart completely racing. 

The sudden loud sound and the impact in the cylinder scared them and a cloud of smoke was already developing. The mammals started coughing and it was time to go get their guns. Nick went for the tiger's gun and Kii had a better idea. She punched both of the smaller mammals in the face as she was covering her mouth from the Carbon Dioxide overexposure. Nick got the gun and both the hyena and the wolf were unconscious, and Nick had the big gun. He coughed because of the chemical. He didn't cover his face but did get out of it fast. 

“I'm gonna fucking kill you, whoever did that!” the tiger said as he was covering his whole face from the chemical. The cloud disappeared and they were now on their own. Nick was pointing directly at him and if the tiger did any sudden movement towards him he would be gunned down. He had no patience right now. The tiger stopped covering his face and looked at Nick and Kii. 

“Oh. Look at who we got here. The Fox cop and the Cheetah. I remember you guys” the tiger said with a smirk. “Although the fox is more famous, heh” he mocked the Cheetah. She didn't care. 

“You can shut your mouth right now” Nick said. “I have the gun, so you better do what I say unless you want a bullet straight to your head” Nick's seriousness made Kii surprised, even the tiger had a surprised face, although he hid it very well. 

“Hey, I see what's wrong in here. There's something missing. You're missing your bunny partner, aren't you?” Kii wasn't liking this. Nick was in no state of being mocked about Judy. He could snap at any second. 

“Nick, don't listen to him, give me the gun” she said. Nick was gritting his teeth and she could tell he was angry. 

“I take it she died” he said. “I'm very sorry, she looked cute. Everyone wanted to bang her, I'm telling you” Nick got even more and more furious. 

“I'm gonna blow your fucking brains out if you don't shut up!” Kii could see the tension. His disgusting comments angered her too, but it wasn't time to be violent or someone would die, and it would be one of them. 

“Everyone wanted to ram into her like a train directly into a tunnel. Too bad she's dead…. Or is she?” Nick got surprised at this statement. He got curious. 

“What do you mean by that? You're saying she's not dead?” he said. 

“I never said anything like that” the tiger said, still smirking. 

“I'm gonna get what you know out of you. For now you're under arrest” Nick said, provoking a reaction in the tiger. 

“Oh no you won't” as he said this he approached Nick very fast. He couldn't react in time and the gun was taken from him again. Kii reacted and tried to stop him from getting it, receiving a hit with it in her face, sending her some meters away. 

“Kii!” the tiger punched Nick in the stomach and took him by the neck. Kii was unconscious. Nick had no way of getting out of his grasp, and he wasn't trying to choke him either. He was going straight for the building glass window He shot at it lots of times until it finally broke into a thousand pieces. Nick caught on what the tiger was going to do. He hated heights. 

He put him out the window while only grabbing his neck. Nick was scared for his life. The fall would be painful. 

“I can sense your heartbeat from here, hahahaha” he mocked Nick. “You fucking cops, always ruining everything. Any last words before I take you to hell?” if Nick was to die, he needed to know something. 

“If you know, answer me. Who did all this?” Nick said. The tiger was surprised. 

“Who the fuck made so many people disappear?” Nick said frantically. 

“Oh I'm gonna tell you alright. You'll be dead anyways. The person who did it was-” a shot was heard and Nick could clearly see it. The tiger's head had been completely blown out. Blood splattered all in his face and body. It was disgusting. The paw that was holding his neck let go of him but with a sudden movement he grabbed himself on to the edge so he wouldn't fall to his death. An unknown paw that looked like a Raccoon's helped him up. 

“Thank God. A second later and you would've been dead” a chubby raccoon showed himself. Nick was shaken by the commotion. He had almost died by getting thrown off a building. He was also mad. The tiger couldn't finish his sentence and he still didn't know who made this mess. The raccoon also finished off the 2 unconscious bodies from the other mammals by putting a bullet to each of their heads. 

The raccoon noticed Kii on the floor and he instantly forgot about Nick's safety. He ran to her very hurriedly. “Honey!” he said, confusing Nick, until he realized. The cheetah had her secrets and he was just recently knowing all of them. 

Marvin kept trying to wake her up with no results. Nick stopped kneeling and went their direction. He too cared for his partner's safety. It seemed like Marvin didn't know anything about checking someone's pulse. He got close to her and he went to stop his hand. 

“Hey, relax, I'm his friend. I'll just check on her pulse to see if she's alright” Marvin was still way too skeptical. He didn't blame him. He would've been the same with Judy. Kii's heart was fortunately still beating. She only needed some rest. 

“Marvin, she needs some rest” he said, surprising the the raccoon. 

“How did you know my name?” the raccoon said.

“Common sense. She told me it was her boyfriend's name, so I just went from there” Nick explained with a smug smile, making Marvin blush. 

“It was also kinda obvious by the way you called her ‘Honey’. Very sweet, I must say” 

“Well, thank you. I'm sorry if I'm weirded out, but I haven't really told anybody about my relationship with her” Marvin expressed. 

“It's okay, I get it. Let's put her somewhere safe” as Nick said this he took the cheetah with both his arms and started carrying her towards the entrance to Floor 87 along with her boyfriend. 

TO BE CONTINUED


	4. ACT IV: SECRETS FROM BELOW

ACT IV: Secrets from Below

** _Z.A.I.M. _ **

Nick's thoughts were as bizarre as they'll ever be. How did the tiger know about who was doing this? Why was he trying to vandalize this place in particular? Everything was very suspicious. Did ZNN have something to do with it? No, there must be something else. Someone was trying to protect something. The whole building was empty except this floor. There's something that Marvin isn't telling him. 

“So, Marvin. Who was that tiger? Why did he want to get to your floor?” Nick asked grimly. Marvin caught on to his tone and replied slowly. 

“It was just a simple criminal, Nick. He had no motives to this. He just wanted to incite violence” Marvin said with a slight hint of sass. 

“You're lying. This building is completely empty and there was no possible way a criminal would've climbed so many stairs just to find people he could kill. That tiger knew something and he looked mad. Mad at you and whatever kinda people you have over there” the fox stated clearly and direct.

“I don't know what you're talking abo-” he was interrupted by Nick's paw suddenly grabbing his neck and lifting him in the air, just like the tiger did to him. 

“Listen to me, you coon! If I find out by myself you had something to do with my partner's and possibly hundreds and thousands of deaths I am gonna tear every limb from you, not before telling your beauty here what you've done” Nick kept aggressively stroking his neck until the raccoon managed to say something. “O-okay okay I'll explain everything, just let me go!”

Nick let go of him and tripped over some of the stairs. He was coughing because of the pressure on his neck. Nick felt bad for him. He wasn't being himself that afternoon. As the raccoon recovered himself Nick started to apologize. 

“Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't really mean any of that. I just want to know who the hell did this. My partner is gone because of that person. He's gonna pay” Nick started sobbing. The raccoon knew he was in the right for being mad. But he doubted what he was gonna tell him would make him feel any better. 

“I get it, Wilde. This has been stressful for all of us. What I'm gonna tell you, however, is not great news. The person who did this is unreachable. At least for the time being” Marvin said in a serious and knowledgeable tone. Nick was surprised by what he said. Unreachable? What does he mean by that? 

“It would be better if I explain everything to you and Kii in the office once she wakes up. What I'm gonna tell you both has been a long-kept secret within the confines of these walls. There will be 3 more animals in there that are part of the team” the Raccoon kept speaking as they approached the entrance to Floor 87. Their last stop was near. 

“We’re here. You don't need to introduce yourself, everyone knows who you are” he said to Nick as he opened the door and began to yell. “Guys, I'm back. I brought company” as he said this, the three mammals showed themselves. It was a male and a female wolf and a tall male ram. 

“Is that Cheetah even alive?” commented the female in a grim tone. “Would you look at that. Nick Wilde. Where's your..” - ”Sheila!” she got interrupted by Marvin. After he said that she realized what she had almost said.

“Oh. Sorry. I'm Sheila, by the way” as Nick took a closer look at her she was undeniably pretty. Her fur was dark gray and she had blue eyes. “This is my brother, Paul,” he approached Nick and extended his hand. He couldn't reach it because he still had Kii on his arms. Paul noticed and blushed in embarrassment. He could definitely see the resemblance between the siblings. “I'm a true fan of yours. Where's-” Sheila punched his shoulder and looked at him. He realized and his head went down. “Good to have you here,” he said with a warm smile. 

Paul was a very tall wolf. He was dark Grey like Sheila but was significantly larger than her in size. He was also very toned and muscular. 

“I'm Bryan Ramston,” the ram seemed like it was the oldest and the smartest. The way he talked gave him a very powerful aura that Nick could feel. “Let's help this poor lady out, shall we?” he took Kii from Nick's arms and put her on one of the empty tables in the studio. He started checking for breathing, pulse, and tried to find any superficial wounds. He took her shoulder and with some bandages he started wrapping it all up around it so no blood would come out. “She seems to be fine. She only needs rest. You need to take better care of your girlfriend, Marv, hah,” he mocked the raccoon. 

“I-it's not my fault she wasn't with me when all this happened! Besides she's a cop. She always gets in this kind of trouble,” Marvin said, feeling attacked and also kinda mad that he was right. Nick had no time of these shenanigans. He wanted to find out who had made Judy and all the other mammals disappear, but he wanted to wait for her to wake up. She needed to hear it too. 

As if the universe had heard his thoughts, she was moving and slowly opening her eyes. Marvin had noticed and quickly rushed to her side. 

“Oh my god, Kii! I'm so happy you're alive,” he said with great content. 

She was still shaken by the blow the tiger had given her but managed to speak a few words.”M-Marvin… hi, honey,” he hugged her and kissed her in the cheek. This act of happiness made Nick think of how he had gone through many difficult and terrible times with his partner, and how he had always treasured being alive another day to see her face. He related. 

“Nick,” Kii looked at him and smiled. “I'm happy you're alive too. What happened?” 

“Well, your boyfriend here saved me. You should thank him. A bullet straight to the tiger's head, including the other 2 criminals,” Nick's words didn't make her feel any better. 

“But...but they were just some vandals. I understand about the tiger but why the 2 others? You could've cuffed them!” said Kii trying to get up from the table only to be received by pain in her chest and shoulder. 

“Hey hey easy. Don't work yourself up too much,” said the coon. 

“He has an answer to that, don't you Marvin?” the other 3 mammals on the room noticed that Nick clearly knew something. Marvin just sighed and turned to the others. 

“I'm gonna tell them, guys,” he announced. 

“Tell them what?” said Kii confused. 

“Who did all this? You're gonna tell me right now,” Nick said in his deepest and most serious voice. Marvin's co-workers were surprised and even Kii flinched at the sound of his voice. 

“Marvin… You're not really gonna tell him, are you?” Paul said. 

“How...how do you know about that? Nick, how does he know?” Kii asked him, completely bewildered. 

“I have to tell them, guys. This secret has been going on for too long. It's time we showed them Zootopia's inner workings.” Marvin stated. And with all of it settled and done, he began. 

“Kii, are you good enough to walk?” He asked. She looked at him still confused about his involvement in all of this. 

“Y-yeah. I think so,” she said, as she got up from the table and began trying to walk with the help of Nick. Her two legs were still weak but she could move with his aid. 

“Follow me,” they did what he said and they were going through the main corridor in the studio until they reached a weirdly shaped and placed elevator that didn't look like the others. Inside it looked like a normal elevator that listed all numbers 1 to 100 for the floors. 

“I thought the elevator wasn't working?” Kii said, as Nick pondered the same thing. 

“This is another elevator. It's not connected to the main one,” Sheila said. Marvin pressed the numbers 16, 4 and 3 on the elevator buttons. With that, a different set of buttons appeared and were instead letters. He was pressing them rapidly, which didn't allow Nick to decipher the password. After that, yet another security breach appeared and was instead a hand sensor. He put his right hand on it and waited for some seconds until the scanner worked. 

The elevator turned green and a robotic voice started speaking. “Welcome back, Mr. Cooper. We're happy to see you again. Transportation to Z.A.I.M. Installations will begin now,” Nick and Kii looked at each other dumbfounded, not knowing what to say. The elevator started moving, and they could feel it was going down. A little map started projecting on a little screen above the fancy elevator. Their destination was way below the Downtown Tower. Nick had never heard of a subterranean center before, which made sense, seeing that it was supposed to be a secret. He wondered how the people involved managed to do such a fit. 

“How did you guys keep all of this a secret, and for how many years?” the questions came. It was only a matter of time before Kii or Nick would've started asking, but it was Kii who asked first. Marvin would go on to answer it. 

“We got help from the government. Such funds to make a demanding installation like the one we're gonna be in is not cheap. They decided to keep it secret because things like the technology down there could be used for bad, and there are more stuff down there that is in need of protection and we don't want unwanted attention,” he explained clearly. “It's been 20 years. I only joined a couple of years ago,” he added. They were getting close, judging by the map. 

“Did you know that this would happen?” said Nick in an ominous tone. If they knew he would be furious. They should've at least given a warning. 

“We didn't,” Paul said. “This took us by surprise. We were tracking the person who did this but we wouldn't be able to do anything since we don't have war technology. We have contacts. We could have found his location and sent some help, but we sadly couldn't,” he remorsed. Sheila held his hand to comfort him. 

They were already getting close. Nick could see it. It was bigger than he expected. There were designated areas for certain things but it looked like they were short on staff. Probably a cause of this phenomenon that Nick had still no name to call. 

The elevator finally stopped. “Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Z.A.I.M. Installations,” said Marvin as if he was a show host in a reality TV show, and it's exactly how it was described. 

The place was immense. It probably stretched for many miles. It's amazing that such a big place like this had been off the radar for 2 decades. The entrance had the name of the company in blue and white. Most of the walls were painted in very different colors, but Persian blue was the most exposed. 

Z.A.I.M. is short for Zootopian Agency of Intergalactic Matters,” Sheila stated. “I know it might sound lame but it's the best the founders could've come up with. In this place we study everything that's out of this world. Including the person who did this,” her voice sounded raw as if it hurt to say it. 

“How long did it take to build this?” Kii asked. Marvin replied. 

“It all started in 1976 when they had discovered an unusual material on the other side of this planet. It was a blueish solid object that had a very hard and coarse surface. The mammals that found it said that they could feel the strength of the material and that it was more than they could handle. Shortly after a scientist took it and discovered many of the properties of the metal. It had the capability to absorb sound and it could cut through any metal existing. This meant that the metal had not come from here, but from outer space. He called it Absorbium,” he said as they kept walking through the installations. The mammals left there looked curiously at the newcomers. 

“The scientist's name was Patrick Howloway,” Paul started speaking. “Our father,” he revealed. 

“So I'm guessing you guys own all of this?” Nick asked. 

“We co-own it, along with Marvin. His dad was a big friend of my parents,” Sheila said. 

“What about you, big guy?” Nick told the quiet ram. 

“I handle some rough jobs in here. I command some spaceships and I help on building them,” Bryan stated. 

“Mr. Ramston has been with us for quite a while. His help has brought many great things to this organization,” Marvin expressed in a proud voice. 

“So how does this work? It's underground. No spaceships can go undetected to the surface?” Kii questioned. 

“That's why the spaceships are never used in Zootopia. It would be foolish to do so if we're trying to hide them,” Bryan started speaking. “This station is just a secondary one, where we build weapons and some parts of spaceships to take to the actual station that we have in the other side of the globe,”

“It's impressive how I've never heard of it. How do you take the station away from the news? There must also be people in the other side of the world,” Kii exclaimed. 

“Indeed there are, but we're smarter. The station is hidden completely in plain sight on the jungle of Zibia. But only we can access it,” Paul said. “And before you ask, we hide with a special shield that safeguards it against possible threats. And there's only one entrance that only we know about. It's like an entrance to a different dimension. My dad's findings gave way to all of that. He truly was amazing,” Paul stopped speaking and lowered his head. 

“Until Milo betrayed him. His partner,” Sheila unveiled. “And that tiger you saw at the entrance was his son,” Nick's eyes went wide open. To think that he had thought of him as just a vandal, but he turned out to be worse. Sheila kept talking. 

“With their findings, they had found other three Absorbium stones around the zone. Some were hidden very deep in the soil. Milo wanted them all to himself, of course. He wanted to use the metal for his own selfish reasons. Our father wouldn't let him and he fired him. Furious, the tiger grabbed one of the stones and punched him right through his face,” with this, Sheila began tearing up but still had an angry face. “I still remember that day as clear as water. I was only 16. So much blood. The metal was the hardest of all, and combined with that bastard's strength it was more than he could handle. He died in a span of seconds, while Milo just ran away with two of the metals,” Sheila was now fully crying. It looked like she had suppressed those memories for a long time. Paul went to hug her and she accepted it. 

Nick was seeing Déjá Vu. It was as if he had already lived those moments. Because he did. He remembered the day he had told Judy about the tragedy with the Scouts. He also reminisced of when he told her about his mom and how he resented leaving her side. He cried that day, like he never did. Cried in his bunny's arms. Never had he felt so vulnerable and so strong in his life at the same time. She cried with him, because she too felt his pain, but how could she? he recalled thinking that too. He understood in an instant. She loved him. More than he cared to love himself. A knot in his throat formed at the thought. 

“So I'm guessing one of you killed him,” Kii stated. “I would've done that too,” she expressed with angry eyes. 

“Indeed we did. It took us weeks to find him. He was on a hidden base north of Zibia. We killed him right then and there. No mercy. He didn't give our father mercy,” Paul stated angrily. 

“But he had an offspring and that was that tiger at the entrance. He was trying to get revenge on us,” Marvin told them. 

“What a cycle of revenge. I'm glad it's over now”, Kii said. Nick was still in his pondering state, not feeling the vibrations of their speaking, or the air from the working turbines in the base. He was still daydreaming of Judy. Kii noticed it and went to him. 

“Nick,” she said. He didn't seem to hear her so she tried again. “Nick!” she called him once again. He got back to his senses. 

“Sorry, I got distracted by my own thoughts. But I did hear what you said.” with his mind recovered and focused they kept walking. In the base there was another big room that looked like an office. And indeed it was. A much better office than the ones in the tower. This one had a massive computer with an equally-sized keyboard that stretched as many as 3 tables. Each table had its own chair for the respective mammals to work on it. 

“This computer has been saving our information about everything since this company started. All the memories, research and events that we and others have recorded. It also holds the information about the creator of this horrific genocide. Patrick used satellites to scan other planets and look for info about the people throughout the galaxy. Thanks to that we know a lot about  _ him, _ ” the raccoon said. Nick was ready to find out who it was. If he couldn't kill him he could at least be happy by looking at his face. 

“Are you ready, Nick? There's no backing up. Once you're in, you're in,” Marvin warned him. Nick was already decided. He feared no tyrant. Death was also the least of his worries. 

“I'm ready,” he said in an ominous tone. Kii was getting ready for the reveal too and was still surprised at what her boyfriend has been involved in for all those years. 

“Okay. Here we go. Not much has been found about the alien's childhood or his background, but we know his name. The Mad Titan, Thanos,” as he said this, Bryan opened some files containing his name and the files became holograms, but ones Marvin could touch. 


	5. ACT V: GOD COMPLEX

ACT V: God Complex

** _Mad Titan_ **

Marvin opened one of the flying files with one of his fingers. It was technology Nick had never seen in his life. To think that there was so much advance below his feet. 

The files opened and some photos appeared. Marvin touched one of them to maximize it and they were found with a picture of an enormous being sitting on a throne-like chair. “This is the one,” Marvin said. 

Nick's first reaction to it was of disgust. He'd never seen a purple furless giant like that. It wasn't at all like he imagined. Then came anger. 

“He has killed many races before us, but he has a motive,” Sheila spoke. “He says he's saving people. He wipes out half of every planet,” she said. 

“And that's what happened to us, isn't it?” Kii expressed, saddened.

“Unfortunately yes. But it didn't happen the way he used to do it. He used to go to each planet separately and kill half of all of them so their planet would prosper,” Marvin said.

“Then how did he make everyone disappear on this planet? Why didn't he need to come here?”  _ Why did it have to be her?  _ thought Nick. He stopped going too deep in his thoughts because he feared he would space out again. 

“He found a different and a quicker way to do it. There were six gems spread throughout the whole universe. They hold incredible power and it is very dangerous in the wrong hands. Just one infinity stone, as they're called, can destroy single planets entirely. Thanos was able to get them all and use them together to wipe out half of the whole universe. Not just ours but the whole of it. Patrick had an encounter to one by scanning it through a satellite. It's power was too much and the satellite had to get away or it would've been completely destroyed,” Marvin explained as he passed through some files containing images of the forbidden gems. 

“How'd you find out all this info? I imagine you've gone through space expeditions and all but this is a lot to unpack. All this space crap is confusing to me. How have we been living our whole lives without knowing about other beings on other planets,” Kii told her boyfriend.

“We encountered another spaceship in one of the expeditions. They were good guys. The group consisted of very peculiar kind of people. There were three furless creatures with different characteristics, a raccoon like me and a talking tree. Yeah I know it sounds unbelievable but it happened,” Kii was now very amazed and disturbed by what his partner told her. Nick was also very intrigued about that certain group of people. 

“They called themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy,” Paul spoke again after comforting his sister. “Sorry, Marvin I couldn't hold myself. Their name is just so cool”, he apologized. Marvin shrugged him off and continued. 

“They were very kind to us and talked a little bit about their lives and planets. They talked to us about Earth. A planet very similar to ours. It doesn't have animals like us. It has humans” Sheila said

“Humans? What kind of aliens are those?” Nick said curiously

“They don't think themselves as aliens but I'm pretty sure they are. They're furless creatures like Thanos, but they're not purple. They can be white, black and a little bit in the middle,” Paul answered his question. 

“And before you ask what Earth has to do with the Mad Titan I'll just tell you,” Marvin interrupted “We traveled to the galaxy where Earth is located which is really really far. In there, we examined life on the planet. It's kind of a mess. Wars, famine, greed. Those are some of the things that infest it. There's also some good, of course. There is a group of special agents called The Avengers. They've helped Earth on many occasions against different enemies. Thanos was their third. And possibly their first defeat,” Marvin finished with a sad glare. 

“We built a satellite close to Earth so it wouldn't be as hard to record information,” Bryan informed. “Two days ago it went crazy. It had detected massive levels of power. The cause of it was a big spaceship that wasn't even that close to us, but it had such power that even a low-tech sat like that could detect it from many miles away. At that moment we knew there was trouble, but not at such a large scale like this one,” 

“Incredible. Is the satellite still standing?” Nick asked. 

“No. It got destroyed. We'll get to that in a second,” Marvin said as he kept passing through information on the floating files. 

“We sent the satellite back in order to do repairs to it and to add more tech we needed. We added a better camera, better controls, and even a defense mechanism if something got too close. After that, we sent it back. And waited. We wouldn't have to wait long, however, for something already in its course to Earth,” Marvin told the dumbfounded mammals. 

“It was a different ship. It was ring-shaped. It looked like The Avengers were able to get the spaceship out, or the alternative was that Thanos was just looking for something there and took it. However, the power we sensed before wasn't the same this time around” Marvin kept explaining, making both Kii and Nick struggling to catch their breath as they attentively paid attention to the story. “Which made us think that he wasn't really on that ship and instead went somewhere else with the ship we saw before. Unfortunately, we know nothing about where he went. But we stayed watching over Earth because we had a feeling something would come up,”

“And something indeed came u,p” Sheila began. “There were other different spaceships of another shape that began getting into the atmosphere. We moved the satellite a little bit closer and we saw what they were trying to get. We sensed another kind of power but it was almost the same. There was another Infinity Stone in there, and the Avengers were protecting it. 40 or 50 minutes later, the satellite was completely failing. The system was being overrun by massive energy and at the moment we knew that Thanos had arrived,” she stated with incredible confidence, as if she was there when the event had happened. 

“And that's when it really went out of control. There were many flashy lights coming from the planet and even from our distance we could see it very clearly. A sudden explosion of light was seen and the satellite got completely destroyed, answering your question, Nick,” 

_ Unbelievable.  _ Those were Nick's only thoughts at the moment. To think he would miss such a fight. And for such high stakes as those. 

“After that it's when it happened,” Paul stated, taking the lead on storytelling this time. “The first sign of the event was the plane,” Marvin selected a floating picture and enlarged it. It showed a plane. The exact same one from the crash. 

“Yeah I was there when the plane hit. It was horrible,” Nick said, remembering the dead bodies of innocent animals and the mammal who was beside him. 

“After that, you all know the rest,” Marvin figured. He was right of course. Kii and Nick had enough of those memories already. 

“Do you know where he is now? Thanos?” Kii asked, earning a shaked head from Marvin. 

“No idea. After the big explosion the installation went down for a few minutes. Maybe the wave of power coming from the stones. Not sure if he'd still be on Earth,” he answered. 

“Show ‘em the map,” Paul stated, bringing curiosity to the fox and the cheetah. 

“Oh yes, I almost forgot. Crazy me, hah,” he minimized the floating files and opened another one called ‘Zootopia, Aftermath’. In it, there was an image of the city and with red dots throughout every part of the map. Right then and there, Nick knew what it represented. 

“All the casualties,” Nick said, his eyes focused on the screen. 

“That's correct. We used one of the satellites we have and scanned all the sudden disappearances of heat in each part of the city, resulting on this. There might be some mistakes but I believe it's pretty accurate,” Paul said proudly. It seemed like he was the one who thought of that. 

“Can you get closer to some places in the map?” Kii asked

“Yes”, Paul began answering her question. “This works just like Zoogle Maps. You can zoom in and zoom out of places” he said as he was showing them that it could zoom in and out. As he kept zooming in there were more dots and they kept getting bigger and bigger. Paul unconsciously zoomed in on Precinct 1. 

“Wait wait keep it there for a second,” Nick demanded. Paul listened and let Nick examine the location. Kii looked with him. The amount of red dots was surprising. There were only 7 dots inside, and 2 on the outside, which Nick knew who one of them was. But there was something strange with those dots. 

“Those two dots. Outside of the precinct,” Nick gulped, not wanting to talk about it but still with curiosity. 

“Yeah, I see them. What about ‘em?” Paul asked. 

“Does this map also have the date of when each vanishing happened?” Nick quickly replied. 

“Uhh yes, actually. Although I don't think it would be that different. Most of the deaths happened within a span of 10 minutes” Paul explained. 

“That's not what I'm looking for, anyways,” his comment puzzled the wolf. It didn't make any sense about what the fox was asking but he dared not to deny it. He was there to answer doubts and to make friends. Not to make more enemies out of people. 

“There, it's done,” Paul showcased the dates. The dots inside of the establishment had an average time between 5:19 and 5:21 in the afternoon. However the two dots on the outside had vanished at the exact same hour about five minutes later. At 5:26. This did seem weird to Paul. He imagined everyone would vanish in an equal time as others. 

“Two people didn't die at that exact place and time, right, Nick?” Kii intruded into the conversation as Nick nodded. “Maybe a failure in the system?” Sheila suggested

“No,” Paul denied. “The records show it, it's completely accurate. Two bodies must've vanished at that place. Although it is weird that the 2 people vanished 5 minutes after all the commotion,” Paul stated. 

“H-how is it possible?” Nick said, not wanting to think what he was thinking. “S-she couldn't have b-been…” he sat abruptly on the floor by the stairway that led to the massive computer and started hyperventilating. Kii ran to him and began trying to comfort him. The others in the room were confused as to what caused such a mad display of emotions. Sheila looked at the two dots in the screen and it hit her. 

“She was pregnant,” she murmured to herself. Her eyes growing more openly. Paul didn't quite hear her. 

“What was that, sis?” he asked. Sheila looked at him horrified. 

“Judy Hopps. She… Might have been pregnant,” this caused a gasp in each member of the crew inside. 

“You can't be serious. Can you?” Paul was shocked. Judy and Nick were an idol to him but he would never expect that they could be able to have a child on their own, and now… Their dream is completely gone. All because of a damn tyrant. An unreachable one, at that. 

“It's a possibility. It might explain why there's two dots very close to each other and that they vanished at the exact same time. And also why 5 minutes went by before she left,” 

“Still doesn't explain it fully. We don't know how this…  _ thing  _ works,”

“It's still a possibility,” she spoke. 

As Kii heard the conversation she couldn't believe it. Judy, being pregnant, while also leaving Nick because of this destruction. She felt horrible for him. He kept hyperventilating and there seemed to be no way of clearing his mind from the fog that was Judy and her child she didn't know she bared inside of her. She went back to her fears on her mind. Nick Wilde wouldn't be the same after this day. He never saw him like this in the whole time she knew him. His facade of showing no emotions had been completely broken. 

He calmed himself a bit from his panic attack, thinking that it is no time to be crying yet. The city still had to be saved. He got up quietly with the help of the female cheetah. His head lowered, frown in the face. Visible discomfort and anger. His paws pressed tightly into fists. Blood was visible. He had pressed his paws too much and his claws had bruised him. He didn't seem to feel any of it. Paul and Sheila looked at him in sadness and fear while everyone stayed silent. 

“The city needs our help. There's no time to be standing around and doing nothing. There are revolts. All throughout the streets. What have you people done to try and stop it?” he looked at them with teary eyes. 

“Whatever it is you're doing here it's not helping!” he kept on talking now with a higher voice as his eyes kept getting more and more watery. “She wouldn't be standing here like a coward! Doing nothing! She would already be in the streets trying to calm everyone down. And even if she gets shot, punched or stabbed she would still be up, protecting her city from her last breath,” he was already fully crying. Every mammal in the place went silent. Paul took it the hardest and lowered his head. 

“He's right,” Sheila said. “We can't just be here doing nothing. Dad wouldn't have liked seeing us like this,” bringing up her dad was very unexpected. To Paul even more. Her eyes held no tears together. 

“Sis, I… I don't know what to say.” said her brother, still surprised. 

“No need to. This has hit all of us. Nothing's been easy. This place has remained in the shadows for too long. This city is strong, but it will fall if there's no control.  _ We _ have a way to get it back in control. This city hasn't seen the rise yet and  _ we _ can make it rise again. Our secrets are not worth keeping if we can't help our city.” every word was like an earthquake that struck the room in which the mammals were located. As Nick kept whimpering in a wall he listened clearly. He smiled proudly. 

“Alright.” Marvin spoke. “I agree. We can use the suits and one ship to calm, control and help the innocent citizens.”

“Wait, you guys have suits?” Nick said, as if he had forgotten his crying. 

“Wait a minute, Marvin, we can't possibly do that,” Bryan approached him aggressively. “The reason this place is still alive is because we've been keeping it a secret from everybody. What would the government think?.” 

“No, Bryan. Sheila has opened my eyes. I am done being the government's pet. Everyone deserves to know,” they expanded their eyes at the way Marvin spoke to the ram. Bryan huffed. 

“You're gonna regret this,” he said with disapproval. The team glanced as he left the room making sure the door made a loud bang sound. Marvin sighed. There was nothing he could do. 

“Alright. Me, Kii and Sheila will go with one small ship to try and calm things up a bit. Paul and Nick will stay here. I remember why you came here in the first place, Nick. We can get you a whole connection to Zootopia so the entire city can hear you, but that'll take some time. About how much time, Paulie?,” he asked in a charismatic way. 

“About an hour. Connection to the entire city is a task, but nothing I can't do,” Paul said, taking pride to himself. 

“Nerd.” Nick funnily said as if the memories of his dead lover didn't haunt him at the moment. “Oh shut up, Nick.” this gave him a chuckle and it spread to the whole crew. Marvin realized why so many people got to be so close to him. At one time he's bawling his eyes out and on another one he's being strong, funny, and helping people sort their problems out by giving them a good chuckle. Nick's interests certainly came before him, and that makes him one of the best foxes he'd ever met. They had started on a bad note, but there is nothing he could do to stop gaining respect for him. 

“Alright then. Let's save our city.” he raised his fist in a horizontal line, expecting everyone to join in. Sheila came second, then Kii, then Paul, and finally, Nick. Soon they started reciting their own motivations to get through this odyssey. 

“For dad,” Sheila spoke

“For Patrick,” Marvin seconded

“For the ZPD,” Kii exclaimed 

“For Judy,” the vulpine stated, with his right fist on his heart. 

“For all the animals who have lost their lives. We will avenge them!” Paul screamed at the top of his lungs. 

“YEAHHHHH!” everyone yelled as high as they could, raising their fists simultaneously, making a perfect circle. This was time for revenge. Even though the villain was far away they would try and bring everyone back. They owed it to them. For the fallen and the living, they would restore control. Nick will protect the city Judy worked so hard to make better. It was time to make her proud. 


	6. ACT VI: TAKING IT BACK

> ACT VI: Taking it Back

"When your Time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."

-Tecumseh

* * *

"It's time,” declared Marvin in a decided look. “Let's go get the suits, guys. Nick, Paul, you know what to do,” they both nodded seriously.

“Sheila, Kii, let's go,” Kii prepared to walk as her mangled body acted up on her. Marvin went there quick to assist her. “Hey, you alright, honey? You don't have to push yourself, you can stay here,” Nick looked at the two lovers. He would've said the same in this situation, but he knows Kii won't back down. “N-no, it's okay. It's just a scratch. I haven't experienced true pain” she overlooked at Nick and didn't go unnoticed. 

“Hey, Kii,” Nick called her, while also getting closer. He touched her shoulder. “You've really done enough for the day. I wouldn't blame you if you want to stay here,” he said from the bottom of his heart. He knew it'd be dangerous and he didn't wanna see another loved one die. 

“I appreciate your worry, Nick. But someone once said that changes don't come naturally. You make those changes. I'm gonna make those changes, for everyone who has needed them and for everyone who is not strong enough to make their own.” She said without stuttering or trying to think of other words. It's as if she was prepared. Nick was proud. The New World won't be as bad if people like her still exist. He hugged her suddenly, surprising her, and quietly said in her ear: “People will need you now more than ever. Don't die today, please.” 

His words made her shiver and a tear dropped as she accepted Nick's hug. Marvin stood his ground. He knew they were close. There was no reason for him to be jealous. Nick held her tightly but he knew he had to let go. The city depended on them. “Please take care,” he said in a heartwarming way. Shortly after he directed some words to Marvin.

“Hey, Coon, take care of her. Protect her with your life or I'll kill you when you get here. You have no idea just how great your girlfriend is,” Nick's words made Kii blush a little and made her curious on what Marvin would say. “You're damn right, Nick. She won't get hurt anymore. I promise,” Nick nodded and shook his hand. 

“You take care too, little sister,” Paul said, mockingly. She showed him her tongue and they laughed together and then hugged him. “I'll see you later,” she warmly smiled and went to join the other mammals that would go out. 

“Hey Nick, you can go and help yourself with a bath, you’re stained with blood, you know?” he said mockingly, definitely knowing it was him who put him like that.

“Oh yeah? And whose fault was that?” Nick replied.

“I saved your life, dumbass,” he laughed alongside Nick. “But seriously though take a bath, you stink.”

“Oh, fuck you.” Marvin laughed with Nick again but it was time to go. 

“We'll be back before you know it. We'll have ways of communicating with you guys to keep all of you updated on our status. Here,” he got two earpiece devices from his pocket. “We'll connect this to a comm device and you'll be able to automatically hear us. We'll give you a call when we get it ready.” as he finished he was getting ready to leave through the door with both females. “Let's see this day end on a good note, shall we?” they all nodded to him as Marvin gently opened the door. 

"Oh, Nick, I also forgot," Kii spoke again to the fox, "I also lied about getting with Marvin two weeks ago. It was actually two years ago." She laughed. Not because of lying, but because of how ridiculous it was for her to hide something so simple as a boyfriend. She felt like a teenager all over again. 

"What? Why would you lie about that?" Nick started laughing with her. Marvin followed. His girlfriend was a dummy. After the laugh ceased, Marvin proceeded to get out of the room a second time. 

**Gearing Up**

When he opened the door out of the office he definitely didn't expect the group of people in there waiting for some kind of answers. Marvin realized what was going on. Bryan had told them his plans. 

“Is it true, Marvin?” a member of the group said as many kept bombarding him with questions about the “foolishness of his acts” as one described it. 

“Alright, enough!” he shouted at them to stop talking. It worked on the first try. He was the leader, after all. He'd never amount to the heights Patrick did, but they had to respect him and his decisions. “I get why you're confused,” he began. “But this ordeal can't go on any longer. We've lived on the shadows for too long. Our city is suffering, and we seem to be the only ones available for their help, so either you accept my decision or you can leave this organization.” his words were clear and direct. No one seemed to back down. He was surprised. Marvin expected at least someone to back down. 

“We respect your decision, sir. We're just scared, is all. What would people say?” a female tiger explained her worries. 

“They'll say what they'll have to say. We're gonna be there to save them, whether they like it or not.” everyone seemed fine after that. Marvin didn't seem to see Bryan anywhere and thought he probably left and will never return. He sighed, but today is a day of many losses. He had to keep his head high. 

“One more thing.” he said suddenly, making the group of people look back at him. “I need someone else to go outside with me. It's gonna be tough, but your help will highly be appreciated.” a moment passed after his comment and it seemed that no one would step up. It seemed like nobody would want to take the risk. 

“I'll go.” suddenly a voice was heard from the back of the small group, and a medium-sized tiger walked to the front. He looked very young and instead of wearing a scientist gown like many of them were wearing, he had a much simpler attire. He was wearing a green jacket with a white shirt and green khaki pants. “I'm Pedro, sir. I was a commander at one of the bases in Zibia. I was transferred here last year.” he did an army salute as if he had forgotten he wasn't actually a soldier anymore. 

“Oh, Pedro. Yeah I remember you. You are a very skilled fighter. You helped a lot in Zibia. You will be of great help.” Marvin told Pedro as his smile brightened. “Thank you, sir. I won't let you down.” Marvin chuckled at Pedro's formality and told him to just call him by his name. He introduced himself to both ladies and the four of them marched on to the Suits Gallery. 

“Pedro, girls, you will have the privilege to see something not many have seen in this installation.” Marvin said with excitement. “And things I haven’t dared to touch in years”

They entered a darkened room surrounded by many mammal-sized suits kept in protected compartments. These suits were seemingly designed for space explorations but are also able to be used on land missions. Most of the special suits are stored in the other areas of the world such as the base in Zibia. The suits were highly advanced, coated in absorbium technology and built specifically to automatically fit the wearer, so there was no need to design suits with many different sizes. They had a bright blue color design with black and white vertical lines. All mammals except Marvin were astounded by them. He quickly explained what they were and made them even more excited to wear them.

"I heard of these suits before but I never actually saw them." said Pedro in amazement. 

"Glad you like them, because you'll be wearing them today." a grin crept up on Pedro's face as he quickly rushed to put on his suit. 

"Are you sure we need these high tech suits?" Sheila asked. 

"We are not sure if something else might happen. The six Infinity Stones hold a very enormous power. We don't know what might come up." Marvin said with a serious tone. 

"Didn't you guys say you don't have war technology?" this time the one to ask was Kii. Pedro was still putting up his suit in the background, which caused a giggle from Sheila. 

"Honey, this isn't war technology. I take it more as a defense armament. These suits are no killing machines." Marvin explained, as Kii was more calmed. 

"Have you ever used a suit like this before?" she asked as if she had been betrayed. She probably was already feeling that way since he hid something so big to her all those years. He had nothing else to say but answer her question. 

"Yes and no. I never used it for real missions or anything like that. Just for testing. This would be my first time taking it to open field. You have my back, right?" he asked her. He hoped their relationship wasn't gonna shatter after this. After all of this, he really was gonna need some support. And love. Something that he found with her after all those years of being alone. 

She touches his shoulder and kisses his cheek. "Of course I do, dummy, but I won't forgive you if you ever hide something from me again." Marvin was happy with her statement he hugged her and felt truly relieved that she still wanted to be with him. "Thank you for giving me a chance," he said, teary-eyed. "Always for you." Kii finished saying. Sheila watched warmingly at the made up couple. 

They stopped hugging. It was time to get into the suits. Pedro was already in one of them, surprising himself with the suit's ability of adjusting itself to size. Sheila followed, then Marvin, then Kii, with a little difficulty because of the wounds. 

Then Marvin got four earpiece devices so they could communicate with both Nick and Paul. He then turns his on and connects it to the office's computer. He tests the device. He positions it on his ear and presses on the talk button. 

"Hello hello, you guys hear me?" he called and about 10 seconds after the response was given

‘’Loud and clear, Cooper,’’ said Paul. ‘’Heard, Marvin.’’ Nick followed suit.

‘’Alright guys we’re about to go down so I need you to be our eyes in the sky over there, clear?’’ 

‘’Clear.’’ Both Nick and Paul said in unison.

‘’Good. I’ll need you.’’ Marvin said with honesty. ‘’I’ll call you back once we’re outside. Cooper out.’’ With this, he ended the call and got ready for the fearful night to begin. It was now 7 PM. 

**Memory**

As the last ray of sunlight was setting in on the devastated city, other lights began to grow brightly. It was the yellow fire accompanied by smoke and dusty air. Lightning bugs and other night insects began to appear but their sounds could not be heard. The street was desolate, and the cars were severely vandalized. When the first stars started to come out, Marvin sought out to them in a way of praying. He looked at his constellation, Scorpio, and how even after all of this, it was still standing there, proud. It gave him motivation. If the stars were still there, hope was sure to come. 

He could hear firefighter sirens, and even police cars. Probably trying to stop the spread of chaos. It seemed like it was impossible at this moment, but giving up wasn't a choice. The city will calm down, like it should and like it always has in the worst of situations. He reminded himself of the year of the Nighthowlers. He kind of blamed himself for not trying to do anything or investigate to try and solve the case. When the news came that the case got solved, he jumped in happiness. Because of that, he even got to meet the love of his life. The lovable Cheetah which he had been lying to. He promised himself no more lies, and most certainly not to her. He couldn't lose her. She was everything. 

"Marvin!" he heard a screaming voice and suddenly realized he was daydreaming, completely oblivious to everyone talking to him. Kii was the one who yelled. 

"Oh sorry, honey, I was heavily thinking." he explained. Kii laughed at him. 

"Must've been one heck of a thought. Was I in there?" she said jokingly. The raccoon reminded himself of his promise. 

"As a matter of fact, yes. I was remembering how we met." Marvin smiled warmly. Kii was caught by surprise at his response and a hint of blush appeared on his yellow cheeks. 

"Great days." she said. Marvin agreed as they both looked at each other with nostalgia and glee, drowning themselves in the memories of two years ago. 

_March 14, Zootopia, 2 years earlier. _

It was a great day for Marvin Cooper. Not only had he been elected for leader of Z.A.I.M. but he was also in his way to talk with one of the most beautiful mammals he had ever seen. Correction: The absolute most beautiful mammal on this planet. He was still shaking by the thought. Even though he already had a job in his secret organization he still needed a "normal" job to hide his secret one. So the best he could do was get a job as a journalist and cameraman for ZNN. He at first had only the cameraman job, so he begged Sheila and Paul for a less boring position, so they did. He had been 6 months as a journalist and things were very very very tiring, even for his bright mind. Run over here, run over there, it was just a big race to see who could get the best story. He had gotten used to- and even addicted- to the job. The rush of getting a new great story published in the paper always filled him with ecstasy. 

He had the great honors to write a paper about the Nighthowlers case. The story was sure to go down in history as one of the most controversial and scandalous disasters in the history of the city. The fact that a bunny cop had been able to safely find all missing mammals in record time gave way to many discussions that criticized the procedures of the case and everything surrounding it. Then the sudden controversial speech given at the cursed press conference by the bunny officer gave many people reasons to go to the streets and protest against their "common enemy", the preds. Rallies, campaigns, protests, more savagery. Those two months were the hardest Zootopia had been hit with. Marvin even thought of using Z.A.I.M. Tech to try to find a solution to the problem, but his superiors at the moment refused to give him permission. 

The news in the afternoon of July 7th were absolutely shocking. Marvin was happy. His city would not crumble and would live for another couple of centuries. All thanks to the first bunny officer and the soon-to-be first fox officer. 

The news hit the entirety of Zootopia like a bucket full of ice water. Everyone either breathed a sigh of relief or got furious they would no longer find a reason to protest against the predators. Millions and millions of posts were made in social media that day, hitting an all-time record labeled unbeatable by many. Several months later, the official video of Nick's "coronation" had been posted to ZooTube, gaining two billion views in it's first week alone. It was a cultural phenomenon. 

Now you'd be thinking what all this has to do with Marvin meeting Kii. Well it means everything. Kii herself got motivated to become a cop thanks to Judy and Nick. Six months after Judy's great speech the world was going crazy. The ZPD had a rate of enlistment of more than 130 percent compared to the previous years. More than two hundred thousand mammals of all sizes were entering the ZPD, Kii of course being one of them. She had started to enlist two months after the Nighthowler case got solved and she had graduated Valedictorian of her class, like Judy did. ZNN had started preparations for a new paper focusing on the new recruits for the ZPD and Kii had landed as one of the lucky rookies who would get interviewed by an exclusive journalist from their company. Fortunately enough, the job landed on Marvin. When he saw her photograph he fell for her in an instant. 

His heart had dropped and gone up in seemingly a millisecond. The butterflies in his stomach fluttered like crazy dragons in search for food. His pupils dilated like water flowing through a crystal clear lake. His body had heated up like a volcano about to erupt. All those feelings, sprouted by one simple image. She was the most beautiful being he had ever gazed his eyes upon. Maybe it was just him but at that moment he felt he could die happily. His eyes had seen everything they had to see. He could go to his grave and die a happy death. He accepted the job immediately. He was lovestruck. 

And now it takes us to the present. He was walking happily to meet heaven. Ooh heaven is a place on earth, he hummed the classic song while walking happily towards her apartment. The mammals around him could not resist looking at how strange he looked walking like a man who had just won the lottery. He had won the lottery alright. He made a jackpot. He had the best cards in his deck. Now the only thing he had to do was play them right. 

Kii lived in an apartment complex close to Little Rodentia. As a newcomer on the city she had no idea which place would suit her better for her new job. She settled for a place at Bearston Manor. The cheapest room in there was at seven hundred Z-dollars. It was perfect for her. Her pay as a cop would certainly give her the amount of money necessary. She was also happily close to a park. Kii is a very athletic cheetah, so keeping her physique is important for her, even more important now by the fact that she's now a police officer. Her surprise was even bigger when she found out she would get assigned with Judy for rookie training. That made her burst into happy tears. She would get to meet the mammal that drove her into becoming what she is now, which was a big deal for her. Up until a year ago, she had no idea what she wanted to do in life. Her parents kept pressuring her to find a job but she just wasn't happy in any of them. It wasn't until Judy solved the case that Kii definitely knew what she was gonna become. And now she was gonna get interviewed for the ZNN, the most famous and most watched news network in the entire city. She hopes for the journalist to be formal and to not be crazy obsessed with scandalous and controversial news like most are. 

Marvin was getting close. Each step he took increased beats per second on his heart. He really thought he was gonna collapse at any moment. This never happened to him before. Never in all those embarrassing High School dates from Homecoming and Prom did he ever have this feeling. Not a Stacy, or a Sharon, or a Karen. None of those names seemed to resonate as much as hers. Kii Catano. Saying her name was like a sweet lullaby. He had gone completely insane. Marvin couldn't stop thinking about her. He feared this would become a problem. He doesn't want his heart broken, but he will try anyways. He felt something great for her. Like nothing he had experienced, an unexplainable feeling he both knew and didn't know at the same time. As he kept pondering over his difficult emotions, he was already at her door. Sweatier than ever, he approached the door and… 

Rang the doorbell. The sudden sound startled Kii comically. She too was having very distracting thoughts and emotions. She went for the door at a slow pace. Must be the journalist, she thought. Indeed it was. There was Marvin, waiting at the door patiently, the most nervous he's ever been, carefully planning on what to say to not sound dumb, clingy, flirty, or all-around creepy. The last thing he wants to do is scare her. He also had to calm himself down, girls sure didn't like sweaty nervous men. And as far as you know, you have zero chances to get such a beauty, he self-deprecated himself in the traitor thoughts. The door suddenly opened… 

And the first thing Kii saw was a Raccoon that seemed more startled than she was a few seconds ago when he rang the doorbell. He was sweaty, his eyes seemed to have seen hell itself, and he was trembling like crazy. She wondered what was going on with him. She didn't think it was appropriate but she admits it is kind of funny. Have I received a journalist or a lost orphan? Her inner laugh couldn't contain itself. 

"H-hi, m-muh name is Marvin Cooper, nice to eat you-i mean meet you." goddamnit, Marvin, you had to be an idiot like that, did you? Kii really couldn't control her laughter that time and she finally did so out loud. In front of Marvin. He thought she was laughing at him and got very embarrassed, his blush running from his cheeks onto his nose and forehead. He really messed it up. 

"I gotta admit, Marvin, that goof of yours got me real good." she kept laughing and now he wasn't embarrassed anymore. He was captivated by her beauty again. Her tear-stained face from the laughter was enough to destroy an entire battalion of tigers from a single look. After he took in the gracious sight of her, he was also very relieved she wasn't laughing at him, but at his "goof" as she cutely called it. God, she was perfect. He never used God's name in vain. He started to laugh with her a bit. To make her notice that he, too, can laugh at his own mistakes. 

After a minute or two, the laugh seeds. Both of them finally get a good look at each other and it was Kii's turn to get impressed. For a raccoon, he wasn't that bad. A toned body, pretty face, good choice of clothes. He also had a scent of Purple Haze, her favorite smell of perfume. A great coincidence, because it was Marvin's favorite too. Kii's dating experience was one of many oddities. She was still "pure" in the normal sense of the word, but she had been in very weird(and experimental) relationships. Both with men and women. None of them really lasted. Those were the weird years of her rebel youth. She was still surprised she hadn't lost her chastity during those times. The longest relationship she had was of 5 months, 11 days and 13 hours(Yes, she counted it). It was with a male tiger and it ended because she caught him with other girls on her back and was also a drug dealer on the side. He was planning on framing her for one of his crimes. She sure got lucky on that. 

Looking at Marvin, he seemed very normal. Well of course, Kii, he's just a journalist. She was right on that, but at that time she didn't know it was his side job and was part of a way bigger thing that just journalism. Even then, she always noticed something more on him that made her get kinda drawn to the raccoon. 

"Wanna come in? I don't want to make you stay here for long." she said, not knowing Marvin would just spend eternity with her anyways. With you forever, he thought in his dreamy thoughts. He finally got into her home. It was as tidy as he imagined. She went to the kitchen to prepare some coffee. There was a bookshelf with many different kinds of books going from horror to romance. He never thought of her as a horror person. I guess you can't learn everything about someone in just a simple image. She even had some manga, which really surprised him. It had Zozo's Bizarre Adventure and One Fleece. Now he really wanted to marry her. 

"Gonna write a paper about my bookshelf?" she whispered in his ear, making his heart skip a beat because of the surprise. 

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." her face gave an apologetic face. God, she was beautiful. 

"It's quite alright, don't worry. I was the one checking out your bookshelf without your permission." Kii kept getting dumbfounded by how shy and innocent he looked. 

"Well, it's not like you had a choice. That shelf is there for people to see, otherwise I wouldn't have it on my living room." she smiled once again. 

"Well, now that we're talking about this, I must say that your collection of books is very impressive. There are some great jewels in this. Your manga collection is really great too." as he said this, Kii went full-on fangirl. Everyone kinda mocked her manga collection back home, and sharing someone say something positive about it was great. 

"I'm glad you like it, Marvee." Did she… Did she just call me Marvee? he smiled brightly inside. His butterflies were fluttering all through his body.

"N-no problem." he blushed again. 

"So, do we start now?" Kii said after bringing him the coffee cup. 

"Yeah, sure. Just take a seat and I'll be interviewing you." he took a sip of the coffee she had kindly made for him and waited for her to be comfortable enough. 

"Alright, shoot." she said. This was his cue to begin. To start he would begin with some minor questions. 

"Let's start with some minor questions. Is Kii your whole name or a nickname?" Kii took a sip of her freshly-made coffee and answered. 

"Yes. Kii is indeed my nickname. My real name is Kiyosawa Catano, but my parents and siblings always called me Kii, so it stuck. Now only some amounts of people know my real name"

"Interesting. Do you mind if I put your real name on this report?" he asked kindly

"Oh no, not at all." she replied almost instantly 

"Thank you very much." he wrote her name in cursive, something he almost never does. He gave his all to make it as pretty as possible. Kiyosawa Catano. He repeated her name in his mind, feeling completely lightheaded now that he knew her full name. He calmed himself in quick breaths that were too fast for Kii to notice. It wasn't time yet for him to be fanboy-ing around her. No distractions and no acting weird, he repeated in his mind. 

"So," he went on to ask the first normal question. "What was your motivation for becoming a cop?" he asked. Most probably her favorite question to answer and one that she was all too familiar with. She definitely talked about Judy and Nick, the popular duo cop. 

"What were you going to be before being a cop?" this question was also answered quite instantly by the female cheetah. She had said she didn't have an idea for a steady job before becoming a cop and that it saved her from going into crisis. 

Several more questions were asked and several were answered. It seemed like she had been preparing and knew what all the questions were beforehand. After the questions, Marvin didn't leave. They stayed talking for hours upon hours until it was morning no more. She ended up making him lunch. Marvin grew more confident around her and Kii grew more fond of him. Seemed like nothing could stop them from this trance. Suddenly… 

Marvin's phone rings. It was a ZNN executive. Probably wondering where he had been. If he had been killed by a gang of lions or mauled by polar bears(Actual lines from the phone talk). He said everything was alright and that the interview took a great turn and he was bringing great info to the site. After ending the call, he would give her the bad news. 

"Miss Catano, our time in here has been very pleasant but I'm afraid I must go." he took his raincoat and top yellow hat he didn't know it had been taken from him and carefully placed in the Coat Rack Stand. Kii surely had easy fingers. 

"Wait!" a sudden scream from the cheetah got his attention. She then proceeded to write something on a piece of paper that caught Marvin's eyes. 

"Here's my number. You're pretty fun, Marvin. Call me sometime."

His expression, pure blizz and glee. He tried to hide it but it wasn't possible as his smile was already filling the entirety of his face, completely showing his bright white teeth. Kii laughed. Now she realized the raccoon was into her. But she didn't realize just how much. 

"T-thank you very much. I will call as soon as I can." he rapidly fled the scene. It was too much for him to handle. Kii sure had felt something. She was now gonna wait patiently for his call. Or text message. 

She didn't have to wait long, as 2 hours later, he was calling her. 

They went to dates over the next few months. They had each grown very fond of the other. Sharing houses, food and everything else that comes next. The one thing he wasn't always very close to was her area of work. Which was why Nick and Judy had never seen him before. Kii had planned to finally tell them and meet with him on that horrible day. It had been their 2-year anniversary. And they were spending it in flames.

They both knew these weren't the flames they wanted for their anniversary. Marvin laughed, at his own reflection of a nearby puddle of water, or was it gasoline? He really didn't care at this point. 

**Plan**

Marvin snapped out of it. It hadn't been more than 30 seconds but he had reminisced a lot. Realized that he really was lucky that she was still there with him even in the recent events. And he was very stupid to almost lose her over a secret. He would never forgive himself for that. The love he felt for her was genuine. She knew it. 

"You okay there, guys?" Pedro spoke suddenly. 

"Yeah…we're okay." He gave Kii a reassuring glance that they were indeed okay. It was time to plan their next move. He tapped on the earpiece so only he could hear it and started talking. 

"Paul, you're our eyes in the sky, what's the situation?" he spoke intently and with resolve. 

"The situation's...kinda tricky. Apart from the numerous crazy mammals on the streets there seem to be some power outages and you guys need to get to the generators to power them up again. If you guys want Nick to be heard throughout the entire city you need to do that." the wolf said. Marvin knew from the start it wouldn't be easy.

"Alright, what are the locations of the power outages?" 

"Rainforest District, Sahara Square and Downtown. So a couple of more blocks from your location you'll find the power outage from the Downtown Area."

"Alright, we'll split up so we can get faster." 

"There's…something else you need to know." Paul got even more serious than before. Marvin knew nothing good was gonna come out of his mouth. 

"I'm seeing a lot of activity throughout Rainforest. As if there's something big…" 

Worry drowned Paul, and Marvin noticed. 

"Well, what the heck else are we supposed to do? The city isn't gonna be saved if we're just here wondering if we might die or not." His leadership, hard as stone, proved effective once again. Paul was motivated. He swiftly answered. 

"Okay, but be safe. We really don't want to lose any of you guys. My sister, especially." 

"Don't worry, we don't plan on that, but you have to be ready for everything, okay, Paul?" Marvin asked. Paul answered with doubt on his mind. He loved his sister and she was the only thing he had left. After his father died, they both comforted each other in the only ways they could and knew how. All he can do is hope she survives. She's been training a lot in various fighting styles and techniques. She had become a professional in many things. He knew she was not a child. But his brother instinct was still present, as it will always be. 

"By the way, where's Nick?" Marvin questioned at the silence of the fox. 

"Oh…well he's asleep. I guess this day put a big toll on him. I let him rest." he answered.

"That's fine, as long as he's ready for when we get the power back." Paul was right. Nick went through probably his worst day ever. He had lost his loved one and did everything in his power to save everyone. The least they can do for him is to let him have the sweet rest he deserves. 

"I'm gonna send you the directions of all the power outage locations so you don't get lost on the way there, ok? I'll be keeping you guys informed, over" Paul sent the directions to the screen inside his mask. The others could also see it. 

"Thank you a lot, Paul. We'll be keeping you informed too. Over and out." Marvin cut the call. 

"Ok guys we need to decide who's going where or if we're going all together." Marvin started quickly talking. They didn't have much time to think. 

"We can go to Rainforest," Pedro answered. "Me and Sheila."

"Are you sure? Paul said there's something big, you sure you wanna go, Sheila?" Marvin answered in fear for Sheila and what might happen to her. 

"I can do it. We can take it." she said with confidence. 

"I'll let you to it, then. I trust you and I believe Pedro is a great companion to have. Me and Kii will go to Downtown, if it's what you want, honey." he directed his sight towards his love, waiting for an answer. 

"Sure. Then we can all rendezvous at the last location of the power outage in Sahara Square."

"Sounds great." Pedro said. 

"Then it is what we'll do. I'll call in two small and simple bikes. I don't think it would be a good idea to be around a ship in the city." he clicked a few buttons in his arm pad and suddenly two high-tech motorcycles akin to the ones in Tron. Someone seemed like a fan. Marvin got in one and hand signed his girlfriend to get on with him. Pedro did the same but with Sheila. 

"Small and simple bikes, huh?" Pedro commented. 

"Yup." Marvin replied with a big grin. 

"We all know what to do. Do the job as fast as we can and help as many people as we can. This night is gonna be long but Zootopia depends on us. Onward!" Marvin cried in the air. 

"Onward!" everyone screamed in unison again and went their respective ways. A long night was about to begin. 

**First Dream: Denial**

"C'mon, Nick!" screamed the rabbit with incredible energy. The fox was following behind her. 

"Wait up…hah…hah…damn, rabbits are so full of energy." he said as he tried to climb the hill in which they'd have their date. Judy picked it because she thought it would be romantic. But it wasn't being so at all for the panting fox. When he reached the too he was already very exhausted. He was glad Judy brought some water. He nearly finished it all in one gulp. 

"You foxes, so lazy." Judy said with a smug grin. 

"Well it wouldn't be like this if you weren't so damn fast and I had to chase you to the top of the hill, babe." he said in a romantic way, sarcastically of course. 

They each brought their own meal for the picnic. They both had different dietary needs and different foods they ate. Judy brought her own salad dressed with Ranch sauce. Nick brought his favorite bug-burger made with cockroaches and Spiders. Judy thought it looked disgusting. It was delicious for Nick. But the meal would soon be ruined. 

"I'm sorry, Nick." Judy said out of the blue, looking at the sunflower field in the horizon. 

"Sorry for what? Coming here running and then me getting tired? Nahh there's no reason for you t-" 

"It's not that." she interrupted. Now Nick was very puzzled. 

"Then…what is it? I don't recall you doing something to me." 

"I'm sorry I died." Nick's puzzled face now went on to a horrified face, scared of Judy and of her terrifying statement. 

"D-dead? What are you talking about, you're not dead! You're right here with me, e-eating."

"Nick, don't lie to yourself like this. You know I'm dead." she said bluntly. Nick started panicking and crying. 

"No, no, no, you're here, you're right here! I can see you!" Nick kept panicking and felt lightheaded. He wanted to wake up but at the same time he wanted to stay with Judy. 

"No, Nick, I'm dead. You saw me. I lied there with you. I vanished. We kissed for the last time." she kept talking. Nick didn't want to hear her. 

"Why are you doing this to me?" he put his paws to his ears as to try not to hear her but it seemed like he had no control over his own dream. 

"I'm trying to help you. You can't be yourself again if you don't overcome grief. It might not look like it but you're in the First Stage of grief. Denial. You still want me back and that's a problem. You have to accept that I might be gone for good." Nick didn't like what she kept saying. He wanted to go. To get out. Judy was there but it was impossible. 

"I will bring you back. I'm not giving up on you." 

"What about the promise?" Judy said. Promise? What promise? Live for me… the promise resonated in his head. Live for her. Live for her. Live for… 

"HER!" he woke up with a loud scream that startled the poor wolf next to him. 

"Jesus, Nick. Did you have a bad dream or something?" he saw Nick. He was in tears. 

"Oh no , it was a bad dream. You okay, Nick?" Paul asked. 

"Yeah I'm fine. It was just a horrible dream. Judy was there. I'd rather not talk about it." 

"Alright. Wanna know some updates on our guys?" Paul asked with enthusiasm. 

"Sure." a bright smile formed on his face. He was better already. 

"Well there are three power outages in three locations. Sahara Square, Downtown and Rainforest. Now it looks like the guys have separated into groups to go fix the power so you can give your speech. Marvin and Kii seem to be going to Downtown and Sheila and Pedro are going to Rainforest."

He stopped listening halfway through his sentence. The dream was still fresh on his mind and he couldn't possibly think of something else. Was that the real Judy speaking to him through a dream? No that couldn't be it. It was his mind playing tricks on him. It's trying to forget the sacrifices Judy has done for him. Yeah, that's it. His mind was betraying him. It wanted to erase Judy. Well he won't let that happen. Not at all. Judy wasn't dead. He would get her back. 

"You alright, Nick?" he had spaced out again. He figured. He was too stuck in his own mind to really pay attention to anything. 

"Yeah I'm fine, I'm just tired still." Like the lying fox he always was, he lied yet again. It had been a while since he had lied. The lack of Judy was already affecting him. 

"You can go back to sleep, Nick. I'll be here." That's the thing. He didn't want to sleep. He doesn't want to have her in a dream again. But tiredness was winning against him. His eyes closed on their own and he had no choice over them. 

"Yeah…I guess I might as well." he sat again on the table and lowered his head. In just a quick minute, he was asleep again. 

**Marvin and Kii: Fire**

The sudden speed of the techy bike was a lot for Kii to handle in such a quick span of seconds. She had ridden bikes in her early teenage life, but this was a different deal. The velocity of the machine was incredible. A rush of adrenaline quickened through her veins as she safely hugged her boyfriend handling the vehicle. The journey was quick but they approached danger. She kept hugging Marvin, and the smell of his cologne calmed her down. It was Purple Haze, her favorite. And also his. 

As they got close to the location, something got more and more present. It was the smell and feel of fire. Heat was reaching their legs all the way to their heads. Another faint smell was approaching into the edge of their nostrils, quietly sinking itself in it. Marvin caught the smell of it first. It was burning flesh. Actual animal flesh. It was being burned somewhere in front of them. To the direction they were going. Kii caught on to it soon after, making her more distressed, anxious and nauseous. She hugged Marvin again once more, but this time as hard as she could. Marvin didn't budge either. He was also scared. Terrified, even. To think someone was burning mammals. Or even burning them alive. He didn't want to find out. 

The bike kept going. And going and going and going… it felt like an eternity in it. The heat, the burning flesh smell and the yellow lights that accompany it kept getting stronger, and harder not to see. They feared the worst. 

They didn't expect it to be that horrible… 

In the street where the smell and heat and yellow blinding lights were finally at its limit and couldn't grow any stronger or smell any worser, Marvin and Kii didn't expect the sight that they would see on that day. On top of a pile of cars that blocked one of the streets there were three bodies. Three bodies burning completely. Three bodies held by three crosses. It looked like that religious event. The bodies could be distinguished as that of a tiger(although half of his face was gone), who was the one in the middle, a hyena to the left and a wolf to the right. Burning to a crisp. 

Below the pile of cars there were about 5 figures, all dressed in black cloaks. They were dropped on the floor, as if they were praising the three burning bodies. As if it was in some way a cult. To their right there was something written on a building. It said: 

"MILO'S REMNANTS" 

Marvin knew exactly who he was talking about. Milo. The man who killed Patrick Howloway. There was actually a cult for him? Disgusting. Truly disgusting. The stench was much stronger than that of the burning flesh. The existence of this cult disrespected Patrick and everything he stood up for. He became angered. He wanted to kill these people. 

"Marvin, what do you see? You're almost at the location, why'd you stop?" Paul suddenly spoke through the mic in Marvin's earpiece.

"Something horrible, Paul. Something I'm not even sure I should tell you." He got scared. Paul was Patrick's son and he still had rough feelings about his death. He still mourns it. Just like Sheila does. He just suffers in silence. 

"I can handle it." He knew that wouldn't be true once he told him. He sighed and began speaking to him. 

"There's a strange group of people here. They look like a cult. They're burning three mammals who seem to be the ones who attacked us this afternoon. It seems like they're a cult who praises Milo." After he said it he waited for the worse. But what came next surprised him. 

"What are you waiting for? Kill those fuckers." The sudden violent response from Paul was highly unexpected. 

"W-what? Paul, you realize what you've said, right?" Still surprised and shocked, Marvin answered with the only thing that came to mind. 

"What's the problem? They don't respect dad's sacrifices. They should be dead and burn in hell." Marvin could sense the Fury on his eyes from that sentence alone.

"I get what you're saying. I want to kill them too. Patrick was a good friend of mine. I'll avenge him. A second time." There was a quiet silence for a few seconds until it was stopped by Paul. 

"Do whatever you want." The mic turned off and the earpiece got silent. Marvin knew the subject was a touchy one. He hopes he doesn't tell Sheila about it. He knows he won't. He hates seeing his sister cry. 

"Jesus Christ." Kii finally spoke after being speechless about what she was looking at. 

"Literally." He chuckled faintly as he tried to lighten up the mood. It worked a bit. Kii got a chuckle as well. 

"These people are cynical." she said. 

"Tell me about it." Marvin agreed. 

One of the mammals in the cloaks looked back and saw both of them. He got up and turned around. He quietly walked towards them. Soon enough another one got up, and another one. And another one. In total they were six figures. All walking slowly and quietly into their direction. Kii got behind Marvin as he put a fighting stance. He was ready to kill them. In any way possible. 

"Marvin Cooper and his girlfriend Kiyosawa Catano," suddenly a voice in the front spoke. It seemed like it was a young male. His face couldn't be seen, so his specie was still a mystery. Also, how the hell did he know Kii's first name? Wasn't her real name almost a mystery as well? "You were part of the assassination against Milo Clawmez. But Milo isn't actually gone. He lives through us, and through him we live. Milo isn't gone. We're his remnants!" They all raised their hands. It seemed like it was their cult sign, or just a religious thing. 

"After Milo died, this group was created." Someone else from the group spoke. 

"His child became the leader, but he was still too young." Another one followed. 

"By the time he got older, he assumed total leadership on us, and said that waiting would be our best bet." The next one continued. 

"So we waited and waited. And our wait finally paid off." 

"We made Andrew, our Leader, Milo's son, search for you while we sprouted chaos into the city. We accomplished our objective. But Andrew didn't." The last one stopped speaking and it went back to the first one. 

"We encountered the body of our beloved Andrew and two of our members. Dead. Andrew's head had been completely blown off. Now who's the monster?!" He screamed, blaming Marvin for the death of Milo's son. Marvin could care less. 

Everyone started chanting "Who's the monster now?!" and kept getting closer and closer. They made the mistake of not checking behind them, as two other members had sneak up on them. He furiously grabbed Marvin in the neck and pinned him down into the floor. Kii wasn't given a second to scream his name as she too got grabbed violently. But not thrown into the floor. 

"For your violent sins against Milo and his son, you're condemned to violent execution," The leader spoke in an eerie tone. "Prepare for your atonement." After he said this, he got out a big kitchen knife, already filled with blood. Kii doesn't want to find out what damage they already did with that knife. 

"I will proceed to slit both of your throats now." The leader said this with killer eyes. His head went upwards and they could see his face. It was a fox. The others quickly revealed their face as well. A sheep, a wolf, a tiger, another tiger, a cheetah and a pig. The two mammals holding them down never revealed theirs. 

"N-no, don't do this. I didn't have anything to do with Milo's or Andrew's death! He didn't either!" Kii tried to lie desperately. 

"Stop it, Kii, they probably know everything already. It's not like they'll stop. They're just filth who thirsts for blood." he spat on the fox's face and in response he dealt him a blow to the head with his right leg. It was very hard and hurtful. Marvin almost fainted from it but he stayed strong. 

"Your will to live offends me. It offends all of us. You're the real filth here. Be happy I'm not condemning you to a worse death." The knife kept getting nearer and nearer to Marvin. Kii kept crying for the fox to stop but she knew he wouldn't. Marvin looked at Kii, almost crying and said:

"I love you, please look the other way." Kii kept crying. 

"That's a noble thing to do, Marvin. I'll be sure to make your death quicker now." The fox said. No compassion whatsoever. 

"NOOOO!" Kii screamed at the top of her lungs. The fox just kept going. It's as if he was deaf to her cries. The knife touched the neck. He will keep his promise about giving Marvin a quick death. Marvin was waiting for it quietly. With anger in his eyes that even the most fearless lion would be scared of. The fox looked directly at his eyes and Marvin at his. The fox was ready to slash his throat open…

But a sudden burst of gunfire made him look the other way and stop the slashing. It was a dark figure atop the building with the cult name on. The dark figure jumped out of the building and was clearly holding an AR-15 on his hand. He fired his gun repeatedly at the members, killing the two that were holding Kii and Marvin. The fox dodged the attack but that couldn't be said for the other members. Two were dead on the floor and another one had received a bullet to the waist and was on the floor agonizing. He was furious. They had played him dirty. 

"You… you Scum! You're nothing without those guns of yours!" 

The dark figure broke the fall only with his feet. He was wearing one of the suits from Marvin's lab. He caught on to it but at the moment it didn't matter to him. He was comforting Kii. 

The figure, now more visible, was two feet taller than the fox cult member. The gun in his hands seemed short for his size. 

"Get the hell out of here if you don't want this whole entire magazine in your fucking head." The mammal said with extreme anger and fearlessness. The fox was surprised, but he was still crazy enough to not run away until he said his part. 

"You damn sinners. Bad luck will come your way soon enough. Milo and Andrew were like Gods. A serious atonement will come your wa-" he was interrupted by a bullet on his head. His body dropped face first into the concrete on the street. The ones that were still alive were surprised. He opted for also killing the one agonizing on the floor. He won't be able to walk anyways. 

Only two remained. A sheep and a wolf. He just let them run away. They wouldn't be of any trouble. The masked figure got closer to Kii and Marvin. He took his helmet off and talked. 

"I'm sorry I took so long. One second more and you would've been killed." His voice was familiar to Marvin. He looked up and he saw Bryan. The same Bryan who hated his decision. He was there to help them. 

"Bryan? I thought you wanted me dead after how everything went down." Marvin said, surprised. 

"I admit I was angry. But I would never want you dead. You're a great person, Marvin. And a great leader as well," he spoke with honesty and calmness. "I thought of it a little bit more and I realized I was a moron. I thought about what Patrick would've done in this situation, and he really would've done the same," Marvin was really surprised. About Bryan's change of mind but also about what he said about Patrick. Would he really have done the same? Bryan added another sentence. "Could you be able to forgive me?" 

"Of course, Bryan. You did nothing wrong. You just got mad because it wasn't the turn you thought this company would take. I forgive you." Marvin isn't a very spiteful person. Bryan is still his friend and still a great help for the company. 

"Thank you." He hugged Marvin with his crazy strength. 

"Uhh… Bryan, you're choking me." After he realized he put him down. 

"Oh God I'm so sorry." Marvin shook his head in indifference. Kii laughed. For a second they forgot about the three bodies that were still being burned atop the pile of cars. 

"Do you…think we should get them down from there?" Kii asked. Marvin thought about it. 

"Well we gotta get them down anyways, they can't be there forever." Marvin said in a witty tone. Kii gave him a hard look. 

"You know what I meant." She said harshly. 

"I know what you meant. I definitely know. It's all about that moral thing about letting someone rest in peace even though they've lived a life of crime."

"Exactly." she told him. He sighed. 

"Ok. We'll do it. Care to help out, Bryan?" 

"Not at all," he said, "but how are we gonna put out the fire?" 

"We'll figure it out. We always do. About that gun though… where did you get it?" Marvin asked. He really wanted to know. 

"I feared this question might come up. This gun came fr-" his answer got interrupted by a sudden call from the earpiece. It was from Sheila and she seemed distressed. The sound from it wasn't the best and some parts were incomprehensible. 

"Marv…*static* Pedr…*static* Rainforest Di…*sigh* Big Sna…*static*"

"W-what? Sheila, speak slower, I can't hear you. There's a lot of static there!" he tried to communicate but it was impossible. She couldn't hear him. She kept screaming. 

"Please hel…*static* We're gonna…*static* killed. Call m…*static* please I need you!" The last part was loud and clear. Sheila was definitely in danger. 

"Kii, you hear this?" he asked fast and worriedly. She nodded. 

"Paul, hey Paul. Did you listen to this?" He called Paul as well. 

"Yes I did. My sister seems to be in trouble. You need to go there asap, Marvin. You promised I wouldn't lose her!" Just what he had feared. Paul was also distressed. He was gonna try to keep calm, but it seemed it was too late already. 

"And you won't. But I told you you have to get ready for anything, Paul. You have to be strong. Trust in your sister as well. She's agile enough to escape out of whatever situation she's in at the moment. We'll go help her in a heartbeat. We'll make Bryan turn on the power and help nearby mammals." 

"Yes yes I know, but she's my sister, I worry about her. I really should've gone with her. Wait Bryan is there? With you? I thought he was mad. Oh what the hell I don't care just go help my sister!" 

"We will. I won't waste any more time. Over and out." He stopped the call and quickly ran to the bike. Kii followed. He threw Bryan the phone that contained the location of the power outage.

"You'll know how to fix it, right?" Marvin asked, almost offending Bryan. 

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Bryan said and smiled. Marvin was glad they were finally on good terms. 

"I'll leave you to it then. When you're done, help the mammals around. Some might need your help. Take care, Bryan." Marvin said and quickly sped up the bike, not waiting for an answer from Bryan. 

And the techy bike sped up through the Zootopia streets, running at almost the speed of sound to help their friends in danger. Once again, Kii wasn't all too comfortable with that speed. It made her neck shiver, her legs tremble and her fingers were all too fixated in pressing her boyfriend's body. But at the same time a relief. A relief that they were going to help their friends, but also that all that sorrowfulness was also disappearing. The smell of burning flesh was dissipating, the heat was disappearing from her body, and the yellow blinding lights were replaced by the darkness of the city at night. As a kid, she always hated the dark. It was ironic that it was now what she preferred. Well it was different as a child. She only had small plushies she could hug at night. She now had one giant plushie. All to herself. It was now riding the bike they were riding in. She smiled at the silliness of her thoughts. Will she ever grow up?

** Second Dream: Anger**

"Uugh, I am so nervous." Said the bunny, about to talk at the press conference. She was happy she had solved her first case and kept her badge, but now talking to a big group of people was more terrifying than she remembered. The smug fox prepared to help with her nervousness. 

"Alright, press conference 101, you answer their question with another question and then answer that question. Like 'Officer Hopps, what can you tell us about the case?' - 'Well, was the case hard? Yes, yes it was'" Judy laughed at his somehow useful and actually helpful tip. 

"You should be up there with me. We did this together." This triggered a feeling in Nick's heart. From those you could never escape, and the ones he didn't have in a long time. He was feeling warm. He was feeling loved. Very deep within him, he knew this was a dream and what would come next, but he wants to savour this moment one more time. 

"Well, am I a cop? No, I am not." He answered with his witty self again. And then he got even more nervous for what was to be next. Her utmost symbol of trust. 

"Heh, funny you should say that. Because I am looking for a partner." Seeing himself being surprised again by this was almost nostalgic. Almost. 

"Take this, if you want something to write with." This moment truly represented Judy as a character for him. She didn't force him to do anything. She gave him a choice. A choice. He could choose to steal the pen and get away from it all and continue on his hustling life, or, get a job as a police officer and live a crimeless life. It was like two complete sides of the coin. He didn't dare throw it. His choice had already been made ever since he protected her from Chief Bogo at Rainforest. He wanted to be part of her life. She was too good to pass on. A partner he could have that was a bunny that didn't have any discriminatory feelings against him. He had fallen for her, although his mind was hustling him to think up excuses at that moment. 

Everything would've gone well, if it wasn't for her response at the press conference. It broke his heart completely to think Judy still thought like that. A backwards view. He knew she didn't actually feel like that. She had done the wrong replies and she had listened to the wrong people. She had also kept the wrong tools at the wrong time. Nick just wasn't ready. Ready to be part of the lawful world. As he kept thinking Judy was already about to say the response that would move a whole country against each other. But then it just stopped. Everything but himself. Judy's face had stopped. The reporters were frozen in time. It was like a photograph. Nick was confused. Now this definitely settled it. It was a dream. 

"You don't need to see what's next. You know it fully well." A voice came from behind him. It was Judy. Not the Judy at the press conference, but the Judy that appeared to him in his first dream. With the beautiful clothes she picked for the picnic. A purple dress with red roses. Roses that 'popped out' of the dress, moving outward. Even though it was imaginary, he started loving that dress. 

"What are you?" Nick asked. "Why am I having two separate dreams that have you in it?" 

"Like I said before, I'm trying to help you. This is me, Judy. At least the version your mind created."

"This is still confusing. You're speaking to me as if you're the actual Judy. I perceive you as her. How can it be that you're just the version in my mind?" 

"Nick, we've been close to each other for years now. It's normal your brain has picked up every little quirk of mine and way of speaking. The words are the ones that might change." It seemed reasonable. He didn't remember a day when he wasn't talking to Judy in any way, shape or form. Even so, could that have been enough to the point where his mind could literally make a copy of her? It seemed extraordinary. Impossible even. 

"You still haven't answered my first question. How is it that I have two consecutive dreams about you?" he asked again.

"It's not impossible to have them but it is pretty uncommon. It's telling you, that you have a problem and you need to take care of it right away." She answered almost instantly. 

"Yeah well I don't have any problem," he replied bitterly. "So can you just disappear from my brain and let me sleep? If you're not the real Judy I don't need to speak to you." He kept raising his voice more and more for each word he said. The Other Judy looked at him disappointingly. 

"If the real Judy was speaking to you, you wouldn't be having this dream at all. You're having these dreams because she's d-" 

"You don't have to fucking remind me!" He yelled at her. With anger in his eyes. He was so distracted by his anger he didn't realize time kept going again, but this time a little bit faster until it got to the part where he gets mad at Judy for what she said. 

"Do you know why the setting has changed from last time?" She asked him. Nick looked at her blankly. 

"I don't know, and I could care less." He said, with more calm in his eyes and mouth. 

"It represents a feeling and a burden you currently possess and your mind is trying to erase. This place represents Anger." Finally something clicked on Nick. Anger was the Second Stage of Grief. The Other Judy had said he was in the First Stage, but now he's in the Second. 

"Wait so I'm gonna have five goddamn dreams where you torment me?" His voice raised again. He wasn't all too happy on his discovery. 

"You're gonna have as many dreams as needed. If you do not try to overcome it, it will be harder to pass. Judy's dead. I'm dead. Understand it and move on." Nick's look completely changed. He was furious. How dare she talk like that. 

"You… How do you fucking expect me to move on after only a few hours? Are you crazy? Judy meant the world to me! I can see you didn't care about that, stupid brain." He felt like an idiot, talking to his own head. But even so it hurt him being so severe with it, because it had Judy's look and almost her personality. But anger controlled him. 

"Nick, all your life you've had a motto. You've had a code. It's like a law to you that cannot be broken. 'Never let them see that they get to you'. Are you gonna abandon your code now?" Whatever The Other Judy was doing, it wasn't helping. 

"You foolish mind. You haven't realized it. Or rather I haven't? That code was already broken by Judy. Right here in this room. And now… now I got no way of getting it back." He lowered his head. 

"All laws have at least one exception, Nick. Judy was one of them. You still keep that code even though you don't see it."

"I don't think so. Don't you see how angry I get all the time? I hurt Marvin. I almost made Kii die because of it. My code got broken once and it literally never came back!" 

"Maybe it's time you get it back."

"How do you suppose I do that?" 

For once, it seemed like his question had caught The Other Judy off. She didn't know what to say. She put one of her paws on her chin and got in a thinking state. She held both her legs in the air, floating, as if she was sitting in an imaginary chair. Spouting words silently like 'Maybe this' or 'Perhaps…no no it's nonsense'. She stayed like that for some minutes and Nick was getting anxious. He wanted out of this dream. She finally spoke again after 3 minutes. 

"Ok, maybe I have the answer. Your code was triggered by an event. Maybe if you remember that event, you'll get it back." He heard the insecurity of her voice. He started fearing what was to happen. Trigger an event. What event…? All of a sudden it clicked. The Other Judy knew. She looked at him apologetically.

"No...no don't you dare." Nick pointed at her, demanding her not to do what she was about to do. 

"I'm sorry." She apologized and closed her eyes as she snapped her fingers. A white light brightened the room and blinded Nick. He couldn't see anything but felt as if he was moving. And shrinking? The light also started getting smaller and smaller until it became a small circle. Like a flashlight. The one holding the flashlight looked like a kit woodchuck. He was now sure in which memory he was in. His worst memory ever. 

Going through it a second time wasn't better. At all. He promised himself not to see those faces again or even think to step on another place like that. He could only stand there and watch, on his own naive mind that they will all accept him. But the truth remains unforgivable. He was having a panic attack. Each word being spoken was equal to 50 forced breathing and an excruciating attempt to keep calm. He was suffocating on his own mind, wanting to get out of it. He felt the push that the Woodchuck gave him, now more hurtful than before as they started putting him the muzzle. Heartbeats skyrocketed when he saw himself again with that demonic device. 

"You think we'd trust a fox without a muzzle?" he never forgot that quote, that was being cited to him right at this moment. Moment of shame, hate...and anger. 

Being savagely thrown out of the place he used to call a home was as heartbreaking as he expected it to be, and taking out the muzzle was as refreshing as he remembered. But going to this memory a second time messed him up again in a way he didn't remember at all. He was feeling more pain than ever. After the memory stopped right when his child self started crying hurtfully, he moved again. But he didn't know about what place he got transported to because he was too busy with his own cries. Curled into a fetal position, feeling backed into a corner, Nick lied, crying openly. All the punches and insults came back to him like a midnight train. His tears roamed freely out of his eyes in content to be out.

"I'm sorry…again." The Other Judy spoke, coming out of nowhere. "I thought wrong. You still do not have your code back. I've made a mistake. I've made you more distressed. I've made a mistake. I've made a mistake." She spoke feelingless, robotically. Nick's own feelings also affected her, of course, since she's part of his mind. Nick opened his eyes. He saw Judy's face. Even though he knew it definitely wasn't her, it was still her face. As beautiful as ever. His heart automatically felt sweeter and calmer. His burning tears were drying up. He imagines what could've happened if Judy had been there to defend him. His life wouldn't have been so rough and maybe he would've become an actual Boy Scout. Maybe…just maybe. 

"Wow… I knew you could do it, Nick." Suddenly she spoke again and with her normal and beautiful voice. The way Nick loved it. 

"Wuh-what do you mean?" he asked. His tears still streaming. 

"You finally shifted. You're now on the Third Stage. The memory I gave you might have not been successful in trying to make you yourself again, but it did make you turn over a new leaf. I'm very proud." She smiled while looking at the mess that was him. Even though his memory got brought back because of her, he couldn't bring himself to get mad. Not now, not ever. Somehow he knew he had to relive that memory. Still wouldn't save her from his quirky commentaries. 

"Thanks, but would you mind telling me where I will go in advance next time? I want to get ready for whatever comes." He slyly demanded. 

"Yeah sorry about that. I thought the surprise could've made it better and more shocking for you." 

"Well it worked. Jeez you're so like Judy. It's hard to think you're not the real one."

"Everything will end soon, I promise." She got close to him and put her hand over to his left cheek and kissed him. It didn't feel at all like the kisses he had with the real Judy. It was cold, vibrant and electric. It still managed to make him succumb to it and closed his eyes. After his eyes closed he felt as if he was floating in mid-air. But still locked to her lips, he cared not. Moments later, he was awake. 

**Sheila and Pedro: Rainforest Menace **

"We're here." Said Pedro, as he stopped the bike. "Or at least, we're almost here, because we can't keep going on the bike."

As they got off they saw what was in front of them. A plethora of vines and rainwater covering every place of the sinking jungle. The smell and feel of humidity was rather uncomfortable for both. 

"Have you ever been in Rainforest before?" asked Pedro, trying to make conversation out of the eerie silence from the desolate place, which was very strange. 

"Not really. I was once here before because my dad brought me when I was a child. I was here for only a few hours and didn't even meet anybody," she explained. 

"I see. I am also not familiar at all with this place, but thanks to the location on our phones we can get to the generator easily," said Pedro with confidence. 

Pedro was an interesting character in Sheila's eyes. He looked very young but at the same time he seemed skilled and experienced. He had the eyes of a fighter filled with warmth and valor. His voice gave off confidence and spirit. It was unbelievable she had never seen him or paid any attention to him at the base. She could've swore he was never there. To think a soldier would be transferred as an Assistant Scientist. 

"Hey Pedro why did you stop being a soldier." She suddenly questioned as they were walking in one of the bridges sweating with rain water. He stopped in his tracks. 

"Working as a soldier was much more than I could handle. Marvin probably didn't tell you what goes on at Zibia but it is rough. There are certain groups that we are at war with. They are brutal. They tortured me and almost tore my right arm. I applied to be out of the army the next day." His words shocked her. Was it really that horrible? Was Zibia that unstable. 

"I…am sorry I made you bring that up. It was probably traumatic for you," she said in embarrassment. 

"No it's fine. Remembering your past builds you up for a better tomorrow. Thank you, Sheila." He smiled warmly, making her blush. 

"N-no need to thank me." she looked away. 

They continued through the darkened bridges and eerie silence that followed them. All the faint lights in the distance didn't help. Not even their ability to see in the dark was enough to comfort them. Pedro had lied to Sheila. Remembering what he had gone through gave him more than some skipped beats. He still remembers the pain of his arm almost being taken out. The agonizing crack that the terrorists gave to it. But the worst pain wasn't that, but the pain of losing his friend. Of not being able to do anything. He lost too much on that day, so he couldn't get himself to go back, knowing he had failed to his best friend. He chose to do this because it was a call for redemption. If he could help the city reach its light again maybe he could forgive himself for his past mistakes. 

Suddenly, a vibration was felt at the bottom of his feet, startling him. It was quiet, but notable. Sheila noticed it as well. He looked directly at her. 

"You feel that?" he asked as he held himself from one of the bridge's railings. 

"Yes I do. Is it an earthquake?" 

"I don't think so. It's a small vibration, and we're way above ground. These trees would also be moving more frantically," he looked at the trees and they weren't making any rash movements except for the leaves and smaller branches, product of the rain. 

"Then…what is it?" Sheila asked eerily. 

"I don't know. But we must keep going. The generator is close," He said, and kept going through the bridge. 

All of a sudden a deep pain came to his head, making it unbearable to give another step. He lost his balance and got on his knees, almost at the end of the bridge. The pain was pulsating and stinging, shaking every part of his being. The vibration was louder and he could sense it through all his organs. Sheila approached him in distress, not knowing what was happening. All of a sudden he heard an eerie voice coming from the distance. The pain didn't allow him to focus so he didn't know the exact direction of the mysterious voice that definitely didn't belong to Sheila. 

Blood. Blood. I desire to kill. Let me see your blood. Let me taste it. 

The voice kept repeating the same sentence over and over. Through the pain he saw Sheila trying to comfort him, which led him to believe she didn't hear it. It was way too loud in his mind not to be noticed. Out of the blue his right hand moved swiftly to the direction of her waist. As it made contact with it he stood up and jumped to safe ground. Confusion invaded him. He still had no clue why he had done such a thing. It wouldn't be long until he got an answer. His headache had dramatically decreased. Sheila was about to protest his sudden action but a loud cracking sound and vibration prevented her. 

As tall and big as the Rainforest trees, a creature rose from below, destroying completely the bridge they were walking in a few seconds ago. The creature kept going up, maintaining a vertical position, blending almost perfectly in the background if it weren't for it obviously moving. Sheila was in shock and so was Pedro. Did the headache somehow warn him about this? 

"W-we gotta move, let's go!" Pedro said. Sheila needed no more reasons to run. They ran, passing frantically through the other bridges. 

Running won't be enough to get away from me. I'll cut those legs of yours right off.

It was the voice again. Again, Sheila had no reaction to it. Another minor headache came to him, and his legs started moving a different direction from the one he was supposed to be going. He took Sheila's hand and directed her to the new path his body had taken. They took another bridge but this time they ran as fast as their hearts could take them. When the bridge was passed Pedro saw a seemingly abandoned house. Temporarily hiding in it was what he felt his instinct was telling him. 

"Let's hide on this house for a moment. To catch our breath." Sheila nodded as they both struggled to breathe properly. 

Somehow he knew the door was open and without a moment to think he twisted the door knob and it opened. The inside of the house was still as dark, but they felt safer. With their augmented vision they stopped a sofa and sta besides each other. Both of them stayed silent for some minutes, trying to take in what had happened. They were still like statues, tense with fear and confusion. Pedro managed to say the first word. 

"That…thing. It probably was what your brother warned us about." Pedro assumed, with a silent voice. 

"Yeah," she replied. "Whatever that was, I'm pretty sure it's not friendly, heh." She chuckled, trying to lighten up the mood. 

Pedro was severely debating if he should tell her about the voice he heard, because he now was sure she hadn't heard it. Maybe she would think he was crazy, a freak. She might think of him on the same level as the beast from outside. He finally opted to tell the truth, whatever the cost may be. 

"Sheila, I…" she tensed as her name was heard through his voice in a serious manner. "I might've heard his voice. I know it sounds crazy but hear me out. Right before it destroyed the bridge I heard it talking about blood and his desire to kill and then it struck the bridge. It all connects. I don't know how in the world I can hear it but I just did. Please you have to believe me." He took her paw pleadingly. She was surprised. She got flustered. His paw was rough, but warm. 

"I…i believe you. After all the crazy shit that's happened, I don't think being able to understand a monster is that weird anymore," she spoke truthfully. Pedro gave a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, really." His response was genuine. He let go of her paw. 

"Wait what about the headache? It disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. Does that have to do with anything?" she asked. 

"I expected you to ask about that. I believe it was. That headache saved us both from death at that bridge. My body suddenly moved by itself before the bridge collapsed," he explained. 

"So it's like a Sixth Sense of sorts," she pondered to herself. 

"Probably. I don't know where it came from. It's never happened to me before. It happened again when we were running, which is why I went for a different direction."

"Maybe it's because of all of this that you're experiencing it. A manifestation of the power of the Infinity Gems," she stated. 

"Infinity Stones," he corrected her. "Yes, maybe you're right about that."

Sheila sighed and asked: "Just what kind of monster was that?" Pedro answered almost instantly. 

"It was a snake. A very big one," He said with a serious face. 

"W-what? A snake? A-aren't those extinct?" she asked, fearing the possibility that it might be true. 

"Well it fits the description. I saw no paws or legs. It was just a lean, gigantic body. Too gigantic for its kind," he exclaimed in anger, scaring Sheila in the process. 

"What can we do against it?" she said hopelessly. 

"Nothing but run," he said with a hard and eerie look. 

Another burst of pain streamed in his brain like a fountain. This time it was somehow different. He saw glimpses of the house he was in, completely demolished and falling to the bottom of the jungle. Was he looking at the future? 

"We have to go, now!" He took Sheila by the hand and rushingly got out of the house. Moments later the same lean body appeared and used what mostly resembled a tail to destroy the house completely, burying itself into the depths of darkness from below. 

Sheila didn't get to say anything because Pedro was already leading her somewhere else away from the massive animal. 

Oh how I love it when my food tries to run. I so love it. I haven't tasted you but I already crave for you. Tasty, tasty. 

There was its voice again, more chilling than ever. He heard it from above but all he could do now was run and hope for the best. Sheila suddenly got off from his grip. 

"I can run as fast as you, no need to take my hand," she said through quick breaths. 

"Ok but stop talking, you need your stamina," he informed her. 

"Right," she agreed and both of them kept running. 

The bridges jolted and struggled to hold on as the pair ran incredibly fast through them. Pedro could still sense the snake. It was close. Insanely close. It was as if it was actually toying with them and it could break their bodies apart if it wanted, and that's what kept him on the edge. The headache came back. The sharp pain crawled up into the back of his head and got the instinct of looking back, and there it was. He stopped abruptly. Sheila did the same. 

He finally got to see him face to face. Even though it was extremely dark and their vision only slightly made it better for them to see, it was still terror-stricken. Its big green eyes stared directly into his. The gaze deepened and Pedro was completely petrified. He couldn't move. His body was telling him to move but his brain said otherwise. Pedro what are you doing, let's go. her voice was distant, faint. Now it was only him and the snake. 

So he too posseses it, huh? The ability of foreseeing. Ugh people like him are annoying. That's why I'll take him down right here and now. 

The snake hissed as it quickly made its way to Pedro with killing intent. He was still unmoving. Fortunately, Sheila was there and she had already developed a plan.

He took his petrified body and jumped to a nearby tree branch. She knew they wouldn't stand a chance running in a straight line. 

The snake opened its mouth menacingly and angrily, showing its fangs, bigger than both of them combined. Pedro regained its senses and quickly shifted his head against the creature.

‘’Don’t look at his eyes,’’ he said. ‘’They can hypnotize you like it did me.’’ She nodded her head in understanding and continued to climb the tree away from the beast as fast as she could.

Technically, wolves weren’t designed to climb trees, but her claws are sharp and long enough to adhere to the tree’s bark. So she climbed as fast as she could with Pedro in his back. She thought it was kind of funny that this time she was leading him, and on her back, nonetheless.

She managed to get to the top with a lot of branches and leaves surrounding it. A simple misstep could mean their deaths. Sheila never stopped to look back to see if the snake had followed them but it probably did. 

‘’Uhhh, Sheila can you put me back down? I’m fine now.’’ Pedro said, embarrassed. Sheila blushed and instantly let him down.

‘’Y-yeah sure. Just be careful where you step on, you can fall down,’’ she said awkwardly.

‘’Thanks for saving me out there. I could’ve really died,’’ he told her wholeheartedly. 

‘’No problem. I don’t want to lose anyone else today,’’ she said calmly.

‘’You won’t, we’ll find a way out of this,’’ Pedro assured her.

‘’So the snake can hypnotize, huh?’’

‘’Apparently so,’’ Pedro sighed. The problems kept getting bigger.

‘’We need to defeat it,’’ Sheila said bravely. ‘’We can’t let it roam around here doing whatever it wants.’’

‘’I agree. We need something big enough and sharp enough to pierce his head’’

‘’Maybe this suit has something like that,’’ Sheila said and quickly began to inspect the suit for something useful to use. 

‘’There’s nothing. Dammit,’’ she said, disappointed.

‘’Maybe we could ask Marvin about it,’’ Pedro said.

‘’You’re right, maybe we could. Hold on.’’ She touched the earpiece to contact Marvin but it wouldn’t work. She kept trying to use it but the device kept saying the same words on the screens of his helmet. No Coverage. 

‘’Damnit. It doesn’t let me contact him, there’s no coverage.’’

Out of the blue a massive clash was heard from below, which made the entirety of the leave-filled trees shiver. Some branches were falling out. That wasn’t good at all. Pedro felt another pain in the lower back of his brain but this time it wasn’t as hurtful and made him focus more.

‘’He’s going up the bark of this tree, we gotta move,’’ Pedro shockingly stated. ‘’Now should be a good time to call for help.’’ They started running as fast as they could through the unstable branches. The tree was making very uneasy sounds that weren’t exactly giving them happy feelings. Sheila could get a little bit of signal and started speaking frantically into the earpiece.

‘’Marvin, me and Pedro are in danger! We’re in Rainforest District and it sounds crazy but there’s a big snake and we can’t possibly kill it alone.’’ She kept running and didn’t even care if he heard her correctly. She kept talking. ‘’Please help, we’re gonna be killed. Call my brother, please I need you!’’ A branch broke suddenly and she almost fell to her death if it weren’t for Pedro, that caught her at the right moment. For a second she saw it. The snake was hugging the tree with its entire body, squeezing it like a fruit. It was gonna take the whole thing down. Pedro lifted her.

‘’Are you okay?’’ He asked her. She looked at him with shocking eyes.

‘’The snake...it isn’t trying to get to the top of this tree. It wants to destroy it’’ Pedro widened his eyes.

‘’We really need to get down from here, let’s go.’’ 

They quickly rushed to find some other tree they could climb down from. The sound of the tree was getting more and more tense, and finally it snapped. The snake let go of the destroyed body of the tree, and started falling down. All of the branches were falling down and both mammals were struggling to find ground to stand in. They couldn’t deny it anymore, there was a good chance they were gonna fall. They looked at each other worriedly. Sheila shed a single tear. It was all in slow motion. The tree branch she stood on fell with her. Pedro watched hopelessly. It reminded him of how he couldn't prevent the death of his best friend. 

This wasn't your fault, Pedro. Just survive. You have to. Who else is going to tell the others what happened? One soldier must always come back. I've accepted my fate. 

His friend’s last words still resonated in his head. A soldier must always come back. Survive. Survive… bullshit. Surviving at the cost of others wasn’t surviving. This time he wouldn’t make the same mistake. He will die with his friend if he needs to. With no regrets in his mind he jumped with her and held her hands. The snake saw them and was about to catch them in the air. The odds were definitely against them. He held her tightly to his body with his back facing the floor. He would die, but at least he’ll die trying to save a friend. Sheila hugged him back, very fearfully.

No matter how difficult it might seem, you can always find another way. There are multiple choices you can make on a critical moment. The hardest part is moving the pieces in the right direction.

Always another way. Another one of his friend’s teachings. He thought of no other way. There was nothing he could grasp to rid himself from falling. He couldn’t think of anything. The pieces wouldn’t line up for him, there was no way he could do it. He closed his eyes. If only he could...all of a sudden he felt himself floating. Did the snake catch him? Was he now about to be swallowed by it? All he could do was open his eyes. He was flying! There were propellers in the suit’s gloves and shoes. Sheila was still hugging him tightly.

‘’Are we dead now?’’ she said, her face still sunk in his shoulder.

‘’We’re not dead, Sheila. Open your eyes.’’ She trusted him and slowly opened her eyes. She looked down. They were in the air. 

‘’Y-you can fly?’’ she asked.

‘’Unfortunately no, the suit is the one responsible for this.’’ He said comically. He was relieved he wasn’t dead, although they were still not out of danger.

‘’I am seriously gonna kill Marvin for not telling us the suit can fly,’’ Sheila said angrily. ‘’How’d you turn it on?’’ she asked.

‘’I really don’t know. I had my eyes closed, and all of a sudden I felt as if I was floating.’’ 

‘’If your suit can do it, mine can as well.’’ She closed her eyes, focusing on her legs and paws. In mere seconds, she managed to pull it off. ‘’YES!’’ she screamed in happiness. She finally noticed she was still tightly hugging him. ‘’I-i’m gonna let you go now.’’ She blushed and smiled.

‘’I got an idea on how to defeat it, follow me.’’ Pedro flew over to another tree. It was incredible how easy it was to maneuver the suit. Sheila followed behind. The snake was furious.

Oh so you can fly now, huh? I’ll cut those stupid grins off your faces!

They were going fast but the snake was just as fast, they had to go faster if they didn’t want to get eaten. Pedro surrounded the tree making sure the snake kept following him. Sheila caught on to what he was doing and smiled. If they can’t kill it, the can at least restrain it. Sheila rushed to his side. She didn’t want to remain the one on the back. They looked at each other and laughed, because they had hope. A few minutes ago all hope seemed lost but now they had regained it. They passed through another tree, and another, and another, the snake still behind their tails. It wouldn’t be long until it doesn’t move at all. Just one more tree. After surrounding the other tree they saw a perfect place to land. They passed through one of the steel bridges they landed on one of the gondola stations. As they touched floor the snake was still plunging to them, with its mouth open, ready to eat them with a single bite. Right before killing them it abruptly stopped. The snake kept opening and closing its mouth trying to kill them but it couldn’t. They managed to distract the snake enough to tangle it with the trees. They had won. Sheila and Pedro panted in relief. It was over for now.

> Not so fast, I won’t let the two of you leave

Pedro looked back and saw that Sheila had accidentally seen its eyes. He remembered what the snake could do with them. He tried getting Sheila away from it but he couldn’t. Somehow his gaze was much more powerful now.

Come to me

Sheila moved one step. It was bad news. She was like a brick wall, he couldn’t move her and she kept walking to the snake at a slow pace. This was bad. Very bad.

‘’Sheila, come on you have to snap out of it, it’s gonna eat you, and me. Come on!’’ He said to her hurriedly, hoping his words would get her out of her brainwashed state. He still tried pushing her, but he couldn’t move her a single centimeter. The snake opened its mouth, they were getting even closer…

A sword was pierced through the snake’s skull from above, instantly killing it. Sheila was back to her normal state and would’ve fallen to the floor if it wasn’t for Pedro holding her. Since he was facing her he had no idea what happened. He slowly looked back while still holding his friend. The sword that killed the snake was being held by a mammal. A fox, if his eyes didn’t deceive him. The strange person took the sword out of the now dead snake and sheathed it. 

“Good grief.’’ The mysterious swordsman said. 


	7. FINAL ACT, Chapter One

FINAL ACT: The Swordsman and the End of 

It All

  
  


"As the earth dies your spirit will bloom; as the world fades your soul will rise and glisten. Amongst the dehydrated crevices of a desert earth you will stumble upon your diamonds; in between the dry skulls and cracked bones you will find your sapphires." 

  * C. JoyBell C.

  
  
  


Bryan: Crazy Noisy Bizarre Downtown

The night was still as silent as Marvin and Kii had left it. The three burnt bodies were faintly glistening and had a weaker fire. It was still nauseating to look. No fur, only muscle and bones. He looked over at the one in the middle, that was positioned in a taller post. Milo’s son, the tiger Marvin killed. Half of its brain was gone, and the bottom jaw was nonexistent. The raccoon had really done a number on him. Not that Bryan cared. The tiger deserved it. The other two mammals were not recognizable to him but they were probably important if they were being burned along Milo's son.

The pile of cars was as grotesque-looking as the three bodies. He wonders how they even moved all those cars and piled them up. It was a mystery. To the other side of the big obstacle was the first objective of his mission. Thankfully, they had left a gap in the street from which he could cross. It was still very dark and he wasn't very nocturnal. The thing that most bothered him were the sounds of screaming and chaos from the distance. Of course no one would be in the zones with no electricity. They can't risk being killed by night prowlers. Now that he thought about it, he was running that risk. He tried not to think too much about it.

Bryan's only guide right now was the moonlight and the fire that was still aroused vibrantly. According to the GPS, he was standing right in front of the objective. There it was, as clear as ever. The source of the zone's electricity, on top of a utility pole. His suit provided him with many technical uses like scanning, things he had developed himself to be on the suit. He had developed it specifically for safety labor work, as it was completely electricity-proof, since the entire outfit was made from very hard rubber, a substance he had developed as well. All that scientific knowledge and still so thick headed he thought, still ashamed at the way he flipped out on Marvin, his leader and the only person he could trust his life on. He's very grateful that he was able to be forgiven. Now he was gonna repay the favor.

His suit's gloves were also modified to be adhesive which he would use to climb the pole safely. Not for nothing they called him the greatest scientist of ZAIM. With no time to spare, he began climbing. He could see there were sparks coming out every 3 seconds or so. He figured the energy from the stones had caused an overload of electricity that ended up blasting it. Nothing he couldn't fix.

Some touches here and there and in practically no time at all, he managed to fix the lights, and it was beautiful. He finally saw light and beauty above all the pain and misery.

"Mission accomplished," he announced happily.

"Great job, Bryan! I knew you could do it," Paul said in a trenchant voice.

"Don't get all sassy on me, I did a great service," he uttered bitterly and with a hint of humor.

"Hehe yeah I was just kidding. Come back to the base or stay if you want to help out."

"I'm going to go to Rainforest, see what all the fuss is about," hearing that made Paul very happy. Bryan will be able to help out his sister in trouble. He was still uncertain about her fate and that was making him nervous. At least he would get a better peace of mind if more people came to her aid.

"Thank you, Bryan…for real this time," he softly spoke.

"No worries. I will try to make up for my stupid mistake from earlier. I won't disappoint you guys again," he said while trying to contain his sobs.

"Don't you go crying on me, you're a tough guy. You know Marvin doesn't blame you anymore," Paul said with great honesty and care for his friend.

"I know, but…i still owe him. From now on I will listen to his every word. I won't doubt him, because he never doubted me."

"Whatever, you big oaf. Call me when you get there." He ended the call. He knew behind that bitter demeanor was care and worry. He appreciated it. With all his heart.

Down he went to the now lighten up streets that were still severely deserted. The blaze and the moon were no longer his only light source. The dreariness was still present, to his misfortune. It sent crippling chills down his spine. Even out of darkness, it remained dead. Still not a single sound.

Except for the abrupt clank that came from the pile of cars where the 3 burning bodies stood tall. Bryan figured it was someone wanting to pass through it. He took his assault rifle and aimed directly at the cars while slowly approaching. If it was another one of those cult members he would make sure to shoot at first sight. No remorse. They will not do whatever they want on this night.

Bryan took to account that the pile of cars was now very visible and were in a somewhat good condition, except for the dents and the stains from the burned flesh and ashes. What he never actually noticed was that there was something below those cars. Something holding them down, or so it looked. It couldn't just be floating cars, could it?

The suspicious sound was suddenly put to a second priority as he fell curious to the mystery of the seemingly floating cars. He was approximating the accumulation, as careful as he could be, to examine below. He aimed his gun at the floor and released the finger from the trigger to see. He crouched, the foul smell of rot got inexplicably stronger. He looked down on the cars…and all his answers were finally answered. To his misfortune again.

An ocean of death wandered into his eyes, the smell fouler than ever before. Bodies of mammals of all species, ages and gender were now visible to Bryan. He put his paw over his mouth with incredible shock. All of the bodies had been severely massacred and unlike the three burning bodies, these mammals had a worse fate. Eyeballs plucked out, hearts stabbed into their heads, massive holes in each and every part of their poor bodies. Some of them still had shocked faces.

An arm suddenly moved in the pile. It was a tiger.  
His lower jaw had been completely ripped off and was now slowly dying. Bryan couldn't believe this savagery. This hatred towards animals was something else. He couldn't manage anymore and vomited. He got dizzy and suddenly started to cry. All the innocents, all the lost lives. He counted about twenty bodies. Seven of those seemed like children.

Broken, he crawled slowly away from the bodies beneath the cars. His eyes still as open as when he saw them. He felt his heart pounding as if it wanted to run away from his body and forget about what it had just seen. He felt out of oxygen, fatigued. His arms and legs were shaking and he couldn't properly get up. Any attempt he made resulted in failure.

"Too shocking for you, Bryan Ramston? I made this specifically for you, old friend," a strange voice spoke from the other side of the barricade, making a grim echo. Bryan, still not recovered from his shock, tried his best to say coherent words.

"W-who is it? What are you talking about?"

"To destroy an organization all you need is to kill the head. But, unfortunately, I enjoy messing around a bit with the legs," the somber voice was getting closer and it seemed to be climbing to the top of the cars.

"Y-you better show yourself or I'm gonna shoot!" said Bryan, hysterically.

"Hey calm down there, partner, I'll show myself. Not like it'll be possible for you to aim right in your state," the animal said, mockingly while muttering something else Bryan wasn't able to hear.

"Wanna try me?" he said daringly, his finger right in the trigger while pointing the gun at the stranger's direction.

A fox's hand was seen in the top of the cars. It was almost done climbing and his head kept approaching slowly to the top, making Bryan almost see his face. It was a fox alright. Bryan turned white in surprise and shock when he saw the mammal's face.

It was the fox he had killed by a bullet in his head, now completely alive and breathing. The hole in which the bullet was supposed to still be located was visible, but it kept getting smaller and smaller until it was no longer there. Completely healed, he climbed to the top, and smiled sinisterly. Bryan's whole body was shaking, he couldn't keep the aim steady.

"You were saying? I tried you, and here we are, heh heh. Got a bit startled there, eh, old friend?" Bryan could almost not hear what he was saying. He was still clouded by confusion.

"H-how? H-how are you-"

"Still alive? Well, that's kind of a long story. Hmm, where should I start? Oh, right," he sat on the edge of the cars, fire still burning behind him. "It all started with a little kid fascinated with all kinds of science. His family was poor and he could never afford anything for himself. So he became a scientist and formed a group of his own, with people that loved him," as he was telling the story, his orange fur started dissipating and turning into a shiny orange color. Bryan looked mesmerized. "Until another scientist got in his way, delaying all the discoveries he was gonna make with the new metal. A stupid scientist had to go and interrupt his plans!" He turned angrier and angrier and kept turning bigger and taller. His fangs grew larger in size, and his claws were the sharpest Bryan had ever seen. He still kept quiet. He was speechless. The mammal's voice was now lower, and more terrifying.

"It was never the guy's wish to kill him, because despite everything, the scientist wasn't a bad person. But sometimes in order for something to be accomplished, sacrifices have to be made. So one night, he took the metal and swung it as hard as he could against his face, killing him in an instant, without remorse." He looked straight into Bryan's terrified eyes, looking very deeply into his soul, with the most foreboding face.

"You do know who I'm talking about. Right, Bryan?" He jumped to the ground and was now at his level, except that Bryan was still on the floor.

"N-no, it can't be. You can't be… Milo-" he was hyperventilating. He was fearful and confused. He couldn't be. He just couldn't. The person in front of him wasn't him.

"Milo Clawmez…at your service." He bowed mockingly, still with a wide grin on his twisted and maniacal face. He got closer to Bryan.

"I guess you have many many questions about my unexpected return, and how I was just a fox befo-" Bryan shot him many times with his AR-15, surprising Milo. The shots left many holes in his body, destroyed his lower jaw and his left eye was gone. Nevertheless, he was still standing.

"Biu phertainly aben't habby to meet meh." (You certainly aren't happy to meet me) He tried saying. His lower jaw started to grow back as if it was just a speck of hair, followed by his eye. His other holes in his body started to fill up just the same.

"I would like for you to stop shooting at me. I might not die but it's still uncomfortable to feel parts of my body just reappearing. Very unpleasant." He said calmly.

"Why should I fucking care, you murderer?" Bryan stated, angrily. "You killed Patrick, you killed members of the only family I ever had."

"The only people I killed were the ones that were barriers to my plans," he said, as calm as ever.

"Was Mary an obstacle? Was Mary a barrier?" Bryan said, trying to hold his tears as much as possible.

"Mary, huh? It's been a while since I've heard that name," the tiger said, surprised and meditative.

"You still remember what you did to her? The poor girl. She did no harm to anybody!"

"I didn't harm her either, Bryan. It's the truth. She was caught by one of my subordinates. I didn't know about it until they showed me her lifeless body," he informed. "I severely punished that person. He killed someone against my will, and someone who did no harm in return. I'm deeply sorry for that." He lowered his head. Bryan couldn't believe it. It felt genuine.

"It still doesn't absolve you from anything. You know what you've done." Bryan gave him a hard look.

"Oh I completely agree. Some things I've done…they are pretty inexcusable, but they're all for a purpose. I always have a goal in mind. It isn't just blind destruction." He kneels and points a finger towards the array of corpses. "See all those guys there? They're all criminals. Going from rapists to pedophiles to shady lawyers. I did this mess of a city a favor, even in it's last hours."

"Are some of the kids there criminals as well, or are those just for decoration?" Bryan questioned.

Milo chuckled. "Heh, you never miss anything, huh? It's always been one of your great qualities," he said in a soft tone of voice. "The kids are simply innocent casualties. I'm telling you the truth about the people. We've been waiting for so long for our moment. For an opportunity like this. For me to be able to take back what is rightfully mine."

Bryan looked at him with boiling eyes. "It was never yours," he exclaimed, accentuating every word.

"But there's not many people here to stop me, are there?" he looked around mockingly.

"There will," he said, and in a quick dash he put his hand on the earpiece. "Paul call the base in Zibia we got a problem."

As Bryan began to send the message Milo approached his way in almost no time and gave him a blunt kick right on his face, landing him some feet backwards and into one of the building's walls.

"Bryan, what do you mean, what's going on?" Paul talked, curious and alarmed about the sudden violent sounds. Bryan, with the earpiece still in his ear, was able to talk despite the immeasurable pain.

"Milo, he's back, just call Zibia and fast!" Another sudden punch came Bryan's way that made his head leave a hole in the concrete. Milo took the earpiece and smashed it to pieces with the strength of his fist.

"Ohh Bryan Bryan Bryan, you've made a bad choice. You took all those punches for nothing," he told him, while Bryan was struggling to move or even talk.

He coughs blood. "That's what you think." He spits more blood and what seems like a piece of tooth. He drags himself closer to Milo and with extreme pain he finally got up and stood to Milo's eye-level, showing him that he wasn't gonna back out.

"So…what's your next move?" Milo says. Bryan, with a confident look, smiles smugly.

"My secret technique." With great speed, Bryan runs the opposite direction of the car pile, leaving Milo extremely dumbfounded. He closed his fists with anger.

"Are you mocking me? Nobody mocks me. Let's see who's the one who laughs last." He starts to run at an unbelievable speed and even though Bryan had gotten really far from him, there was no mistake he would be reaching him soon.

Bryan started to slow his pace. He was fast but his stamina wouldn't last forever. Milo was still going at an incredible speed and he didn't see signs of slowing down.

Milo was just leaps away from Bryan. His long and twisted claws were ready to enter Bryan's skin. Before it could happen he jumped as high as he could and gave Milo a mighty kick in the face, the same way he had done to him before.

"Eye for an eye, bitch," he said as he began to fly thanks to his suit. He went high and began to flee the scene.

But it is never that easy. Milo began running insanely quick yet again and took a big leap towards one of the buildings. Gaining momentum, he jumped again to a higher building. Bryan, aware of his intentions, kept getting away from as many high buildings as possible. Milo ran up the buildings, with no need of his paws to climb them. He reached the top of one of the concrete giants and quickly spotted Bryan some miles away from him. He runs again and jumps ferociously off the edge, making him travel an immense distance. As if floating in the air, he redirects his trajectory away from some other buildings.

The cold hand of the tiger was now millimeters away from Bryan. If it hadn't been for Bryan looking behind at the exact moment, he would've been toast. When he looked behind and saw the murderous being getting closer to his leg, he managed to deal him another swift kick, this time strong enough to land him straight inside a building. The mirror of one of its windows shattered completely at the crash of such a big animal.

Milo's eyes turned red. His blood was boiling. He was trembling in anger. He was being fooled; and he was no fool. He ran through the hallway of the building, still keeping track of Bryan, making sure he was on his radar every single time. He only wanted to capture him but now it's personal. He was running straight into a wall, but he was unfazed. He passed through it as if it was a very thin piece of cloth. He was destroying everything in his path. Fury took over the center stage.

He leaped from building to building, finding the perfect spot to give Bryan what he desired. He had gone farther than him and was now waiting to ambush him. In just a few seconds he calculated with exactitud the time he would be at his spot. Milo might be a brute but he was still a scientist. With no worry whatsoever, he leaped from the edifice and perfectly grabbed Bryan, surprising him.

Now it was an air fight. Bryan was struggling to stay up while Milo was trying to bring him down. They were turning around like spinning tops, each trying to get rid of the other.

Milo took the advantage and destroyed both of the propulsors on his hands, only leaving the one on his feet, making Bryan lose his balance and leaving an opening for Milo to strike. He grabbed the sheep's chest and with great force stopped them both from turning in circles. They were now falling at a great speed and Bryan couldn't do a thing to stop it. The propulsors on his feet alone wouldn't carry the weight of the tiger.

Because of the fight they had arrived back to the place of the burning corpses. Bryan, totally worn out, accepted defeat and was ready to die at the tiger's hands. He wouldn't survive such a fall. Right before hitting the floor Milo threw Bryan to one of the building's walls, breaking the fall. It still didn't prevent him from taking severe damage to his spine. He hollered in pain. This time he was unable to move. The pain and enervatedness prevented him. Now he couldn't run away nor try to fight back.

"So…now what?" Bryan asked tiredly.

‘’Now...you will listen to what I’ve been trying to tell you since I came here. The story of how I became this mess.’' He points at himself. "It was a very painful experience, not gonna lie. After killing Patrick, building my own lab with my own resources was harder than I thought, even with the help of my son. But of course Patrick's bundles of joy would try to kill me. I saw that coming. So I focused on experimenting and experimenting. I had no time to rest. My back was against the wall. Wasn't until one day where I accidentally fell on a boiling container of liquid Absorbium," he told, as he smoothly sat on the pavement for comfort. Bryan was struggling to stay awake. He felt a big pounding burn on his back and could not move. If he dared do so a sharp and undesirable pain would course through his chest. Broken ribs he thought. It was highly dangerous for him to move in that state since one of his broken bones could perforate either one of his lungs or the most important thing to stay alive. His heart.

"I felt as if I actually died. The pain was immeasurable. Everything I had worked on gone to waste, or so I thought. As quickly as it had come, the pain went away. The boiling hell now felt like a nice warm bath on a beach. Then I looked at my body. I was expecting to get shocked at the sight of my bones sticking out through all the melted skin and meat, but I was wrong. My arms and paws were perfectly healthy. It was as if it never happened. I realized, then and there, that I had made a scientific discovery. A very great one, at that."

"So you became a supermammal?" asked Bryan.

"I guess you could say it as such, yes," he began smiling. "I just knew you'd get hooked to my story once I started it. See what waiting gets you?" he stated, insultingly.

"Why are you telling me this? What's the point? Just kill me already." Bryan said, containing his pain.

"What's the fun on finishing you off if you don't even understand how I'm still alive? Things take time, my friend."

"Don't you dare call me your friend again!" he screamed heatedly. He ran out of air very fast. He had forgotten about his pain and tried to suppress it, but it only helped in making it worse, finally letting out a moan and him breathing rapidly to catch his lost air.

"You okay there, bud? You're not feeling too right, " Milo said, wanting to sound as cocky as possible. "You know, you shouldn't move that much. Three of your ribs are broken and one of them is dangerously close to your heart. You wouldn't want that to be how you die, wouldn't you?" Bryan looked at Milo puzzled.

"W-what?" Bryan spoke, confused.

"Oh I forgot to tell you. I have great vision. Even one that can surpass skin. So please calm down, I'm almost done." Milo said on his usual calmness as he prepared to resume his tale.

"As I was saying, my powers would help me fake death and make Patrick's idiot seeds think they won, but what would happen to me in the long run if I couldn't show my face ever again? Well, that's where I discovered more about my power. I can't just regenerate at will, oh no. I can also absorb life itself and plant it into me. So basically I could absorb your life, and by doing so, I'd take your lifespan and appearance. That's how I was a fox before. Make sense, right?"

Sense? There wasn't much sense to what he was saying, thought Bryan quietly. His scientific mind took over and he was beginning to question how something like that could've happened.

"Did you…try giving the power to anybody else?" he said weakly.

"I knew you'd get curious about it! I just did," Milo said cheerfully. "That's how a scientific mind works. You always want to know and discover new things, no matter where or in what state you're on. That's the difference between us and the entire world. To answer your question though, yes I did. But unfortunately, to no avail, it didn't work. I kept thinking about what made me different from anyone else but couldn't come up with anything. As far as I knew, it was all a random miracle." He looked down, as if his own words had hurt him slightly.

"But that's not what I kept thinking. See, a scientist can't prove nor deny the existence of an omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient being, so if my powers really were just a miracle, then it must've been done by someone out there," he gazed at the stars and motioned his hands as if he was presenting them to Bryan. "It's like I was chosen on a mission. This day was destined for me to succeed over everyone else." His face, dry as sand, perturbed Bryan. He seemed diabolic, otherworldly. If there was any particle left of the old Milo, it was gone with that horrid gaze.

"Not much later, I started discovering more about my abilities. I was able to absorb people. Funny, right? Absorbium gives you the power to absorb, who would've thought?" he said, sarcastically and without the dryness. "I then discovered I could shapeshift, and that's how you saw me as a fox before I turned back into my normal state. Soon after I began developing a plan to fake my own death so I could work on my projects more freely. As you know, it worked to perfection. You destroyed my base and Sheila put a bullet in my head. I waited until you lef and began reconstruction of a new base on the outskirts of Zibia, where I remained in asylum for 10 whole years. 10 years of exasperating wait, that fortunately weren’t for nothing. I’ve always been waiting for an opportunity like this. An opportunity to finally rise up and claim this city as mine. In this state it isn’t gonna be that hard.’’ He finished, sinisterly.

Bryan looked at him with growing disdain. He seemed almost impossible to defeat. An immortal being like him is gonna be the ruin of the city. He wants to do something, try to kill him once again, try to retain him temporarily, try to make him fly away to outer space. But profoundly he knew that he could do nothing in his state. He was slowly dying and felt himself faltering. His internal damage was surely fatal. All he could do was pray for the best. Milo got closer to him and began speaking the last words Bryan would hear. He kneeled and approached his left ear. The ovine, not being able to do anything, just raised his eyes in worry. Milo opened his mouth.

‘’You really shouldn’t have pushed me, Bryan. You and Patrick’s cunt children should have known who they were gonna fucking mess with.’’ His sharp claws pierced Bryan’s stomach. Unable to hide the pain, he screamed. Blood oozed from his belly like water from a river. As he kept agonizing, Milo said one last thing. "Enjoy heaven, I might meet you there." He cackled maniacally and began leaving, climbing the car barricade. Bryan kept getting paler and paler by the minute. His eyes started losing color and he didn't feel his legs anymore. He could only do one last thing.

He reached his pocket with the only strength he had, and got out a cylindrical object. There was a button in the middle of it and pressed it. His last breaths drew closer, and he managed to say some last words with the last strength he had.

"PAUL! MILO IS ALIVE! SAVE THE CITY!" His eyes fell down, not being able to be held anymore. His hand fell limp, and with it the mysterious object. Millimeters before falling on the floor, the object began to float. Wings had come out from the two circular ends of the figure and quickly moved to Paul's location. Bryan was able to see it proudly. At least he was able to help one last time. Such hard work deserves a rest. Just a little…rest…

“Mary...honey, are you in heaven? Will I be able to see you again?’’ A tear rolled down his face, knowing all too well what would happen next. Seconds after he spouted those words he fell silent and smiled.

Bryan Ramston died bravely at 9:01 PM, Downtown Zootopia.


	8. FINAL ACT, Chapter Two

** _ The Mystery of the Swordsman_ **

"Good grief." the mysterious fox said, wielding a sword in his hand. The snake, now lying dead, began to slip off the edge and its giant head was about to fall. The swordsman, calmly - to the surprise of Sheila and Pedro - jumped out of its head, not even getting the urge to look back at the lifeless body dangling from the tree it was stuck on. He then began approaching the two slowly. Pedro put a hand over Sheila, protecting her. He still didn't know if he was friend or foe. 

The fox, now in the light, was very peculiar. He didn’t have the usual fur color a normal fox would have, like white, gray, silver, black or orange. He was instead covered with very thick green pasture pelt. His eyes, black like coal, stared deeply into them, as if analyzing every bit of their expressions and characteristics. His garments also seemed to grab the attention of Sheila. He was dressed very profligately, bearing a long green coat that reached from his neck to his feet. The bottom of the coat was weirdly unaligned, as if part of it was cut in order to fit him perfectly. Under the coat was a white shirt with blue words that were unreadable because they were being blocked by the coat. The Jeans were also green with a red dragon going upwards on the side of each leg. Three sword sheaths were calmly sitting on the belt, which was peculiar to Pedro, but opted to ignore it for the moment.

"Don't get any closer," Pedro said. "We don't know where you've come from. I don't know you either. Are you an enemy?" He asked, expecting an immediate answer. 

"Such a bold statement. For all I know, you could be an enemy." The swordsman said menacingly. 

"I do like to think I'm in the right side of the law. I want to help this city get back up. If you're here to stop that, then you're the enemy. Simple as that." Pedro's eyes met with his. They began staring at each other very intensely. Pedro was very deeply fearful, since that mammal had just taken down the biggest animal he had ever seen. By piercing it once. He imagines the skin must've been pretty thick and to pass through it must've been a challenge. The fox breathed in. 

"I believe you. You can stop protecting her, I won't do anything to you," he said calmly. Pedro didn't feel danger, and believed him. 

"Alright. I need to ask you some things though, before I trust you," stated Pedro, coolly.

The vulpine raised his eyebrows in curiosity. ‘’What would that question be?’

‘’You’re not from around here, are you?’’ He asked with confidence. Pedro kept speaking.

‘’Now I’m not a fashion expert but I’m pretty sure those clothes can’t be found in any store of Zootopia. Also I’ve seen a great deal of swords that definitely don’t look at all like the ones you got there, not to mention no one uses that kind anymore. I have to address the elephant in the room as well, your fur is green. So speak, where are you from?’’ he demanded an answer. ‘’Oh I’d also like to know your name please,’’ he added kindly.

‘’Fufufufufu, you’re observant, tiger, I like that,’’ he said, smiling. Pedro raised his eyes in confusion and redirected his gaze towards Sheila.

‘’Was that...a laugh,’’ he whispered so the fox wouldn’t hear him.

‘’What? The ‘Fu’ sound was supposed to be a laugh,’’ she whispered in a similar fashion. 

"Have a problem with my laugh?" the fox said threateningly. Pedro, not wanting his head to roll through the floor, maintained his composure. 

"N-no of course not. We just think it's kind of…extravagant." He smiled nervously. The fox grinned. 

"Don't worry. It is pretty weird. Now, to get to what's important, yes, I'm not from here," he said, getting closer. ‘’My name is Zorro. I’m a space pirate,’’ he said in a serious manner.

‘’A what now?’’ Pedro said.

‘’You’ve never heard of a space pirate?’’ Zorro questioned.

‘’No, not at all. Also what’s with your name? Isn’t Zorro like, fox in Spanish?’’

‘’Spanish? What’s that?’’ Zorro asked again, confused.

‘’Nevermind.’’ Pedro gave up. ‘’Keep telling your story.’’

"Well, if you insist," he adjusted his throat and began. "Like I told you, I'm a space pirate. I go around the galaxy with a group of people gathering supplies and being in adventures. We've explored many galaxies and gone through many planets. Some of which we have saved. Be it from a tyranny, hunger, or sickness. Our group of pirates is a little weird. We aren't evil to the people who don't hurt us. We just want to be free." Zorro explained, keeping Pedro very focused on his words. It was a crazy thing to believe, yes, but after all the shit that has happened today he wouldn't put it past anyone. Zorro's eyes changed and became shadowed, looking at the floor. He kept talking. 

"We found this solar system some hours ago and we decided to explore it. Once we found out this planet contained talking animals…people like me…I decided to go visit it on my own while the others explored the other two," Zorro visibly shivered and had to hold himself or he would've fainted on the spot. His voice became accompanied with mild sobs. "I departed on a small ship and they followed on the main one. Minutes later, a big wave of energy coarse through the ship and sent it flying many miles away. I tried contacting them, but it was all in vain. They didn't respond. Before I knew it, their ship was nowhere to be seen." he shed many tears after saying that sentence, provoking a heartfelt reaction from Sheila, that approached him and gave him a hug to comfort him. 

"I know what it's like to lose someone you love. I really do." Zorro accepted the hug dearly and hugged her back. Pedro smiled. It brought back hope to him that someday, he too could relieve someone from their pain instead of causing it. Zorro began calming down and apologizing for the way he suddenly acted. "You don't have to apologize for anything," Sheila said. "It's worse to hide the pain. It eats you from the inside. It's better to let it out and feel the comfort. Trust me, I know." she said melancholically. 

"Well, in that case, thank you. I feel much better now. I would like to keep going on the story."

"Of course. Go on," she said warmly. 

"Moments after their ship disappeared, I realized the ship was malfunctioning and I had to get out to fix it in order for it to work. When I did, I saw something very strange," he said, making Sheila and Pedro very curious. "A light taking the form of a sphere was coming out of the planet. It didn't seem like a ship, or a comet, or even a meteor. It was bizarre. The light was so blinding I almost couldn't see it. I could swear I saw…an animal inside." Now this was something Pedro didn't expect to hear. An animal inside a sphere of light? 

"What did the animal look like?" Pedro asked. 

"I really just saw a small silhouette and nothing else, I have no idea what kind of animal it was’’ Even after saying this, Sheila was still unsure what to think of it. It seemed so weird that something like that would come up shortly after the disaster. Who was the person inside the sphere? An enemy, or someone that was rescued? Pedro noticed her thinking state but opted not to comment.

"After that, I fixed the ship, and landed safely here. I could tell something big had gone through this city. Was it this snake?" he asked. 

"Actually, no. We don't know where this snake came from at all. Something else did happen, though, and it's probably also what made your crew get separated from you," Pedro said. 

"R-really? Tell me." Zorro's eyes turned from hopelessness to blind anger, waiting for Pedro to tell him who the supposed villain was. 

Pedro started telling him everything he knew, from Thanos and the Infinity Stones, to how he acquired them all and got rid of 50% of the population. Zorro's eyes turned shocked, not knowing how to react to the news. 

"Y-you're saying some of my crew M-might be…" he didn't wanna finish that sentence, and neither did Pedro. He just lowered his head and nodded. 

"Is there a way to bring them back?" Zorro said, sounding somber. 

"At the moment, we don't have any solutions to this problem. I'm sorry."  _ Pathetic,  _ Pedro thought to himself. It was pathetic how they were the smartest scientists of this planet and couldn't come up with any way to bring anyone back. The puzzle piece was incomplete, and the pieces were nowhere to be found. 

"Alright. I'll stick with you for a bit longer," Zorro began speaking again with a more brightened tone, still with a hint of gloom. "My captain isn't an ordinary person. In this situation, he would be thinking about saving his friends, but the only way to do so would be to save this world too, because you would've become his friends as well, and that's something I really admire. It's a great character trait he has. All over the galaxy he never ceases to impress anyone with his smile and heart, so I can't help but feel entitled to help you go through this, for the sake of what my Captain would think of me. So please, let me assist you in your fight. I will help as much as I can." As he finished the speech, he noticed Pedro and Sheila's faces. They were amazed. 

"I really would love to meet this captain of yours. If he's held to such regard, he must be the best of the best." Pedro expressed. Sheila agreed, nodding her head.

"Yeah, he is. I hope he's still alive. Although knowing by his luck, he probably is, heh." Pedro's hand approached his shoulder. 

"When this ends, I would love to help you find him." Zorro smiled, touched by the words of the jaguar. 

"Thank you, tiger." At this moment he embarrassingly knew, he still didn't know any of their names. 

"Agh I'm stupid. I haven't asked any of  _ your _ names." Zorro said, mildly embarrassed. 

"Oh you don't have to worry. We started our conversation weirdly anyways. I'm Pedro and she is Sheila." 

"Sheila and Pedro. Thank you guys."

"No problem," Pedro smiled at Zorro wholesomely.

"We should be thanking you more, really. You helped us get rid of this snake." Sheila expressed, genuinely. 

As the three mammals kept getting comfortable with each other, a sound of a motorcycle was being heard louder and louder. The headlights flashed on them like lightning making their hearts jump. It was Kii and Marvin. They quickly rushed out of the vehicle to reach the animals that called for their help, still not being aware of the green fox beside them and the lifeless body of the monster still hanging by the vines. Kii ran to Sheila like a roadrunner. 

"Oh my god, Sheila! Thank God you're ok!" she hugged her tightly, happy that she was safe. Marvin did the same with Pedro. 

"We would still be dead if it wasn't for him," Pedro pointed at Zorro, who was still unnoticed by the frantic mammals. 

"What the-" the duo said in unison. 

"Yeah yeah I'm a green fox, I know. I'm Zorro by the way." he extended his hands, waiting for a handshake. The raccoon, still weirded out, shook his hands. 

"Zorro? Isn't that fox in Spanish?’’

"Yeah I said the same thing, Marvin, he doesn't know what it is," Pedro said, reminiscing the conversation from earlier. 

"He's right. I have no idea," Zorro said, comically. 

"But what did he protect you from?" Kii asked. 

Zorro proceeded to point to the dead snake hanging from the many branches of the gigantic forest. 

"Oh my God." Kii gasped. 

"Sheila, a-are you ok?" Marvin approached her with worry. He couldn't imagine what they had to go through. 

"Yes, we're fine. Zorro helped us finish him off."

"Oh thank God. I'm very glad. I'm gonna notify your brother you're safe now." Sheila nodded at him. 

"Would it have been that hard to tell us our suits could fly? We almost died" Pedro asked annoyed. Minutes earlier, they would've been dead if it wasn't for that function. 

"I didn't tell you? Oh sweet marmalade what was I thinking?"

"Really, Marvin? You give us tactical suits but don't teach us what to do with them?" Kii said angrily. 

"Hey even if I didn't tell them it works automatically. It detects when someone is falling."

"Still wouldn't have hurt to tell them, would it?" 

Pedro, Kii and Zorro looked at their bickering humorously. 

"Are they married?" Zorro asked. 

"No but they certainly look like they are." Sheila said, almost laughing while Pedro was trying to tell them it wasn't a big deal. 

A ring of one of the speaking devices was heard, making all of them hush. It was coming from Marvin's speaker. A private call from Paul. 

"Oh hey it's Paul. Just in time," he answered the call and began the talk happily. "Hey Paul how are you? Guess what, Sheila's completely fine and they've found another helper...hey what's with your voice?" No one could hear him but Marvin, and by the face he was putting, it didn't seem like Paul was telling him anything good. 

"S-slow down buddy I can't h-... W-what? N-no no you're lying." Marvin's face turned white and horrific, like he had drank the most potent poison. A tear fell from his eye. Everyone was concerned now. 

"N-no. It can't be. Oh god…oh god. Not Bryan. Not Bryan." His tears would not stop falling. Everyone looked cluelessly, truly expecting the worst

‘’I-I will notify the others right away.’’ He stopped the call and turned to them, crestfallen. He prepared to give the horrible news.

‘’Bryan is...dead,’’ the air turned heavy as every member of the group-except Zorro, who had no knowledge of Bryan-opened their mouths in shock. Sheila, denying the fact, fell down on her knees, her tears rapidly appearing. Pedro rushed quickly to make her feel better. He wrapped an arm around her and she hugged him, to Pedro’s surprise. Sheila put her paws on her mouth, totally appalled. Zorro looked in dismay at the mournful mammals, realizing he couldn’t do anything to make it better.  _ All we have to do is kick the enemy’s ass and everything will be okay _ , he remembered his captain’s famous quotes that while idiotic, it had some sense to it. Besides, he already built a bond with these people, so he will avenge anyone that was their friend.

As everyone cried and mourned, Zorro began growing an angry frown. ‘’Who did it?’’ Zorro said, his eyes shadowed with anger.

‘’H-huh?’’ Said Marvin, confused about what the fox was trying to say.

‘’Who killed your friend?’’ As his eyes stepped out of the shadow, a new color grew where the black was supposed to be. Now it was a vibrant green color, and it was obvious it wasn’t for show. 

‘’W-what are you saying? You don’t know us, this doesn’t concern you.’’ Marvin argued with the green fox.

‘’Believe me, it does. I might not have met you for more than 2 minutes but I now feel I should be of help. I cannot leave this place to die, not when people clearly need assistance, and I’m gonna give it. I’m truly sorry for your loss, but we have to leave crying for later. I know that too well. We have to move on and save this city first. So it’s your choice. Tell me his name and species, or drown in your sadness until this city falls.’’ After saying this with utmost cruelty, he felt he went too far. These people had probably lost someone important, and he disrespected that person. If he was told to piss off he’d just say sorry and leave.

‘’You’re right.’’  _ Wait what?,  _ Zorro thought, surprised by Marvin’s statement. ‘’We can’t just stay like this. We promised we wouldn’t lose anyone but look at how pathetic we are. We lost almost all of us in the first hour, and now one of us is actually gone. Right now I am done playing games. Sheila, this will be very shocking to you, even more than this. The person who killed Bryan is Milo, the tiger we once thought was dead. Apparently Paul sent an emergency robot messenger that said ‘Paul, Milo is alive, save the city’. I know, it sounds crazy.’’ Sheila looked at him with disbelief.

‘’No. That isn’t right. I put a bullet to his head, that isn’t right!’’ she screamed at him. The hurt she felt in her heart was immense. The memories of her father rushed in like cold ice. The overload of stress was too much and she couldn’t handle it. Her eyes closed and ended up falling in Pedro’s arms.

‘’Sheila!’’ Kii yelped and immediately went to her side.

"She's breathing." Pedro said as he held her delicately. "Are you sure that's right, Marvin? He can't be possibly still alive, can he?" Pedro looked at him worriedly. 

"I really don't know what to think. Our best course of action now is analyze the situation and fi-" Zorro suddenly interrupted. 

"Found him," he said calmly. 

"Wait, what? How?" Marvin said, thrown by his sudden and surprising statement. 

"I have very strong eyes and nose. I can detect all mammals within a 50-mile radius. You told me it was a tiger, so I've detected him. He's at Downtown."

"Wait wait wait even if you could detect him, there are still many more tigers in this city." Pedro questioned Zorro's methods. 

"Indeed, but there's a great amount of death at this location, and his aura feels very different."

"Amount? As in, more than one?" Kii asked, wondering if she actually wanted an answer to that. 

"Yes…about 20 bodies." Zorro said with difficulty. 

‘’Fuck…’’ Kii said, both saddened and furious about what Zorro had said. 

"This tiger really seems powerful. His essence is out of control. Like a devil wanting to break free." Zorro stated, shocked by its strength. He believed this planet wouldn't have powerful individuals like the adversaries he'd fought in many of his travels.

Marvin was silent. Many crazy things had happened today, but someone he thought was dead was just wandering through the city wreaking havoc. This was the epitome of insane. 

‘’The cult...do you think they had anything to do with it, Kii?’’ Marvin asked.

‘’I don’t know. But they looked as if they didn’t know a thing about him being alive. They were very angry.’’

‘’I’m sorry, did you just say cult?’’ Pedro said, surprised.

‘’Yes. A group of hooded mammals were burning three bodies atop a pile of cars. Then they almost killed us...if it wasn’t for…’’ Marvin remembered how Bryan saved them and how he apologized for his misdeed. ‘’Goddamnit!’’ Marvin screamed in impotence.

‘’We won’t let his death be in vain," he claimed weakly.

“So first you guys get attacked by a cult, then we get attacked by a giant hypnotizing snake, and now we’ve discovered that there’s a guy that’s supposed to be dead roaming around the city? What the hell is going on in this city?’’ Pedro screamed, thinking all of this was too unbelievable to be true. Was it just a fever dream? How can they ever wake up?

‘’Don’t forget the green fox from outer space.’’ Zorro said humorously.

‘’From this moment on we are done playing games. Computer, activate BATTLE MODE.’’ Marvin stated, anger increasing with every word. Soon after, the suit began transforming itself. The color changed from bright blue to a strong red color. Objects began forming, creating a metal-like armor, akin to those of knights. Inside the helmet, thousand more options of battle and strategies had been added to acclimatize to any environment. Kii was surprised by the amazingness of it. She was gonna say something about him keeping that from her, but she didn’t think it would be right. Right now, she had to be on his side, no matter what. For better or for worse. 

‘’Holy crap, that looks amazing! I’m next, i’m next!” Pedro hollered, like a twelve-year old waiting to open his Christmas present.

‘’Just say what I said and it’ll happen. You have to be still or the computer might make a mistake.’’ Soon after he said this, Pedro was already transforming, but still carefully holding onto Sheila. Marvin then went on to look at Sheila, fearing what her reaction might be. His eyes dropped a bit when he saw the faint expression of disappointment in her. Not a second later, she said the words out loud and transformed. He looked at her with awe. 

‘’Let’s get this fucking tiger.’’ she said, surprising even Pedro. ‘’Zorro, would you mind leading us to his location?’’ she asked politely. 

‘’Sure thing. Dang I forgot to ask for your names.’’ Zorro embarrassingly stated.

‘’It’s okay, nothing about this is normal anyways. I’m Kii, and this is Marvin.’’ 

‘’Now let’s stop wasting any more time and go find him. A guy as evil as that shouldn’t be kept alive.’’ Zorro said, back to his serious manner. 

‘’Pedro, would you mind carrying Sheila until she wakes up?’’ asked Marvin.

‘’Not at all.’’ He stated bluntly and speedy. 

‘’Good, let’s get out of this crazy jungle.’’ As Marvin said these words, he realized just two motorcycles wouldn’t be enough, so he called in a third one for Zorro.

‘’Do you know how to ride one of these?’’ he asked. Zorro looked at it with distress.

‘’Can’t say I have, no. But I’m a fast learner, I’m pretty sure I can do it.’’ That was a lie. It took Zorro a year and a half to ride a spaceship, let alone go anywhere with it. The motorcycle, of course, was in no way harder to handle than a spaceship, but it was new nonetheless.  _ Can’t be that bad, right? _ he thought.

Marvin accepted his answer and gave him the motorcycle. With the evil tiger’s location locked in his mind, he was ready. He will save these people or die trying. He can just imagine the warm smile of the man he admires, his captain. A smile of pride for his friend helping people in need. One last thought kept him motivated for what would come next.

_ I will find you again, captain. It isn’t the end of our adventures. There’s still much to explore. _

**TO BE CONTINUED**


End file.
